Claire's Camp Journal
by claireivm
Summary: For three years Claire Monroe has been living at Camp Half-Blood, mastering her powers and trying to stay alive in a world of monsters and powerful gods. Now Claire is one of the first demigods to attend a new camp established in Utah. Camp Parthenon is supposed to be a safe place for Romans and Greeks to live together in peace. But when have demigods ever been safe?
1. The Day Everything Went Wrong

**January 8, 2015**

I guess I should start this journal with the day everything went wrong. The day I tumbled headfirst into the world of Greek myth. Literally.

. . .

It was a drizzly April day almost four years ago. I was reluctantly shuffling home from my middle school in a glum mood that matched the weather.

Some kids ran past me, probably third graders, splashing in puddles and shoving me off the sidewalk into an alley between buildings. I regained my balance and stepped out onto the sidewalk just in time to be pushed down by a second group running after the first. I jumped up with my fists clenched. "Watch where you're going jerks!"

The group stopped and turned around. I took a closer look. They were older than me, but probably only by a year. And there were four of them.

The biggest one sneered. "You should stay out of our way little kid."

The smart thing to do would have been to shut my mouth and walk away. But I've never been good at that kind of thing. "I'm not a kid and the only little thing here is your brain." I growled. "Good thing your BO is double the size to make up for it."

Two of the boys laughed and shoved each other. The big guy glared at them.

He cracked his knuckles, turning his attention back to me. "You better take that back. Or else." He clearly expected me to be scared, which just made me angrier.

"Or else what? Your feelings will be hurt? They can't hurt worse than looking at those gargoyles you have for friends."

"That's it." They charged forward, pushing me back into the alley and against a wall. My anger was quickly melting to fear. Their shadows loomed over me. "You should have kept your mouth shut."

I stared at the ground, watching their shadows fall over me. I silently prayed to be anywhere else. The guy on my left shoved me hard, sending me tumbling to the ground. A sharp kick took away my breath. My head spun with a vicious vertigo.

When the world stopped spinning I braced myself and looked up. I was surprised to find myself under the branches of an oak. A woman's face came into view above me. She had dark skin and gold eyes framed by wild black curls. I sat up slowly. Behind her stood a pale, agitated teenage boy who couldn't have been much older than me. Darkness crept at the edge of my vision. "What the h..."

. . .

I woke up outside, confused. My head felt like it was being pressed between two giant hands.

"Oh, thank the gods you're okay!" It was the girl I saw before passing out. She looked at me with worried golden eyes, helping me sit up against the tree trunk. "You were only out for a couple minutes, but... How are you feeling?"

"Not good. I don't even know where I am." I groaned, pushing fists into my forehead and against my eyes.

The girl's eyebrows furrowed. The boy studied me for a second. "Hazel… I think she shadow-travelled here with us."

"What?!" the girl, Hazel, shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense."

The boy shrugged. "It's not impossible. But it's… weird. "

Hazel suddenly stiffened. "Nico, we need to go. The mist..." She looked back at me apologetically. "I'm sorry we can't help you more. Maybe..."

She stared at the ground intently and picked up a couple of quarters. She tucked them into my hand.

"Can you find a phone and call someone? Your mom or dad? I wish I could stay and make sure you got home safely, but... you'll be safer if we leave now." A knot was forming in the pit of my stomach. Hazel studied me for a moment.

"How old are you?" she asked.

"12," I managed to squeak. She nodded slowly, then placed another coin in my palm. I looked down at the strange gold token.

"When you need help, throw the coin into mist and ask." I didn't like the way she said "when."

"Thanks?" I said. Hazel smiled and she and Nico ran off through the trees. I found a telephone near a bench and dialed Helen's number. The old phone rang twice, punching my already aching head. Before Helen had the chance to answer a terrible howling filled the air.

In the patch of trees where I'd met Hazel and Nico were three enormous dogs. They were bigger than bears, with shaggy black fur and red eyes. They were sniffing furiously and snarling at one another.

Panic overtook me and I ran to hide behind a car in the parking lot. I inched along the row of cars, keeping my focus on the pack and hoping they wouldn't notice me. The dogs snapped at one another as they wandered across the park.

The dogs yapped and growled excitedly, bounding off on the path Hazel and Nico had taken. The remaining hound ignored its departing comrades and started to sniff out another scent. It got to the phone, where I could faintly hear my aunt's confused voice yelling through the speaker. The dog pawed the phone, snapping the cord. Slowly, but surely it began heading for the parking lot. My heart froze in terror. Whatever nightmare this was, I didn't want to wait and see what the dog would do when it found me. I stood upright behind a minivan, ready to run. A glint caught my eye. It was the gold coin from earlier. It had fallen out of my pocket when I stood. I picked it up. Hazel was right to say "when."

A drinking fountain stood nearby. I quickly shuffled along the parking lot and around the bathroom buildings to the dirty fountain. I pushed the rusted button and threw the coin in. The button stuck, creating a continuous spray of mist.

"Please let this work," I whispered. The dog was getting closer. It shoved its way through a row of cars, pausing to sniff occasionally. It was gaining speed, becoming excited. "Hazel! Hazel please. Can you hear me?" I asked desperately. I really wasn't sure how it was ever supposed to work, but I didn't have many options. The water fountain gave no response. I looked around the corner of the bathroom, but I couldn't see the dog anymore. Maybe it had run off to rejoin the others.

Suddenly the ground was left behind as my feet went soaring into the air. A scream choked its way out of my throat. I turned to look over my shoulder and wished I hadn't. The dog's glowing red eyes sent a chill down my spine and its foul breath made me think I wouldn't be its first human meal. I tried to wiggle free, to no avail. The dog started thundering off to join the pack.

Its jerking head motions made me feel sick. I dropped a foot closer to the ground. Looking up, I realized the dog had mostly caught my backpack and a bit of my sweater. I slipped my arms out of the straps and unzipped my jacket.

I fell to the ground in a heap. My legs burned, but I stood and began running. The dog slid to a stop and changed direction to fetch me again. My only hope would have to be a tree. I scrambled up the nearest one and kept climbing until the branches got too weak to support me. I hugged the trunk tightly, trying to catch my breath. I heard scratching noises. The dog was barking ferociously and scratching at the tree, but it couldn't reach me. It sat back on its haunches and started to howl. Other howls joined in and soon the other hounds were there.

They began to circle the tree and push harshly against the trunk, shaking the branches. I clung onto whatever I could find and tried to brace myself so I wouldn't fall into the vicious, snarling fangs that waited below.

I tried to climb higher in the tree, but the shaking was too much, and I could feel my sweaty palms starting to slip. Just then a sharp whistle stole the dogs' attention. I looked down and there was Nico with a black sword. The dogs snapped and snarled at each other, leaping toward him. Nico stood firm, waiting for the demon dogs. He side-stepped as they charged, slashing with his dark blade. One of the beasts dissolved. Hazel suddenly appeared behind one of them, and thrust her golden sword upward. That one exploded into golden dust. The last hound dissolved in another strike from Nico's sword

I couldn't think. I couldn't believe they were gone so quickly.

"It's okay. You can come down now."

I scrambled down the tree with shaky limbs. I jumped when I was close to the ground, landing on trembling legs and wrapping my arms tight around myself.

Hazel reached out to hug me and I backed away from her.

"What. Was. That?" I demanded. I felt fury reddening my cheeks, the kind that comes after the adrenaline starts to wear off. Rain began to fall, making me shiver.

"We'll explain everything. Do you have a coat?"

Nico found my jacket lying in wet grass and we sat down under a gazebo. I put it on even though it was dirty, torn, and already wet.

"What's your name?" Hazel asked me.

"Claire."

"Okay Claire…" Hazel began.

I slid down the bench with exhaustion, but sat up again suddenly when a sharp pain shot down my left shoulder blade. I sucked in my breath to keep from crying out.

Hazel was immediately alert. "Let me see," she demanded. I turned my back toward her. She gave a short gasp and pulled the neck of my t-shirt down a little to inspect my shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," she said.

It must have been when the dog picked me up in its mouth. I turned around and shook my head. "I'll be fine," I hissed. I must have been in shock not to feel the pain before. Since realizing I was hurt the pain was getting worse.

"I don't think so." She dug through her backpack, producing what looked like a holy lemon bar. She broke off a small piece and gave it to me. I eyed it nervously and decided to trust Hazel. I popped the thing in my mouth. It was amazing! It tasted just like the lemon bars my grandmother used to make. The perfect balance of sharp citrus and sweetness.

Hazel drew in a breath, thinking. "Do you know anything about… mythology? The ancient Roman and Greek gods?"

"So, I don't know how much you know about Roman and Greek mythology," she began, trying to gauge my reaction. I didn't respond, waiting for her to continue. I actually knew quite a bit about Greek mythology because it was my aunt's passion. Eventually Hazel continued. "Like Jupiter, Zeus, Pluto…"

"I know a lot of this Greek myth stuff," I interrupted. "Is this going to explain anything, or are you just trying to distract me from the pain? It's not working."

"Well, um, I guess the short version is, it's all true. Nico and I are children of Pluto. That's Hades, if you're more familiar with the Greek side."

I must have been in shock because I believed her.

"And you're a demigod too. One of your parents was a god. Do you know..."

"My dad," I answered bluntly. "My mom was mortal. She… died when I was three."

"I'm sorry." Hazel patted my knee.

I squirmed away from her touch. "Listen, I just want to go home. I'm sure Helen is going to be furious."

Hazel nodded and we went back to the phone I'd left. "I better talk to your aunt too," she said. I shrugged in response.

Hazel leaned down and produced another quarter from nowhere and gave it to me. I called Helen.

"Hello? Who is this?" she asked, clearly irritated.

"Hi Helen. It's me," I replied.

"Claire?! Where are you? You should have been home an hour ago!" she scolded. Her voice was hoarse like she'd been choking Or screaming. Or crying.

"I know, but I was…"

"You're grounded! Tell me where you are. I'm coming to pick you up now."

"I don't know," I told her.

Helen's voice lowered. "Claire, are you okay? Are you in danger?"

I honestly didn't know how to answer.

"Claire? Claire!" Helen was growing frantic.

Hazel took the phone from my trembling grasp and spoke calmly to my aunt. "Excuse me, um, Helen. My name is Hazel. You might know your niece is, well, she's a demigod. But she's in danger. My brother and I can take her somewhere safe."

Helen sighed. "I was waiting to take her to camp when she turned thirteen. I guess I couldn't keep her hidden forever."

Hazel talked to my aunt for another minute, but I didn't hear the rest. I had backed up against a bench and slumped down into the grass. It was real. All the stories I thought my aunt was crazy for taking so seriously. Real. But if she knew… why hadn't she told me? I think most kids would have been excited in my place, but I was terrified. Nothing ended well for the demigods in greek myths. For the rest of my life I would have to deal with monsters and vengeful gods and whatever miserable story the fates wanted to entertain themselves with at my expense.

"Claire?" Hazel placed a hand on my shoulder, making me flinch. "You're going to come with Nico and I…"

"What?!" I choked out.

"I'm sorry. You aren't safe anymore." Hazel explained. "Claire, you're going to come to Camp Jupiter with me for a little while so you can be claimed. In about you can go home to finish the school year. After that, you'll be able go to Camp Half-blood during the summer. I have some great friends there that I know will make you feel welcome."

We made two more jumps, pausing to rest between. Whenever we stopped Hazel told me stories of the wars against the titans and Gaea. Six months before, when the doors of death were opened, a lot of monsters were released and the demigods were still dealing with them. It's a miracle I even survived that long. I don't know what Nico's problem was, but the longer we were together the more he seemed to hate me. Or maybe mistrust me? I don't know.

We finally arrived at Camp Jupiter, exhausted, just as the sun was beginning to set. I hadn't even been shadow travelling and I was nearly ready to pass out.

Hazel was greeted by her big, Asian boyfriend and a lot of people in purple t-shirts. We all walked to a fancy marble pavilion and Hazel told everyone about the hellhounds and finding me. I suddenly had a lot of curious looks when they found out I was unclaimed. I stood there uncomfortably while they tried to figure out what to do with me.

Suddenly the ground rumbled and split. Smoke billowed up from the ground, leaving behind a translucent man. He was sharply dressed, complete with a top hat and cane.

"Lord Hades claims his daughter," it rasped., pointing a translucent finger at me before dissolving.

For several moments no one moved. Hazel wrapped me in a hug. "That makes you my sister! Come on, you can stay with me."

"Um, okay?" I was still a little shocked.

Nico did not look happy.

The next couple days were packed with cram courses in controlling my new powers and sword fighting. Nico taught me how to shadow-travel and manipulate shadows, but training together didn't seem to improve his mood.

When my time at Camp Jupiter was over I had to go home and pretend everything was normal. That lasted about a week, before I was kicked out of school and ended up at Camp Half-Blood early.

. . .

It's been almost four years since then. Last year Annabeth announced that a third, integrated camp was being built in The Middle of Nowhere, aka Utah, in the hopes that both Romans and Greeks could learn to live together peacefully. So now I'm here at Camp Parthenon, starting this journal. Most of the demigods here are keeping journals. I guess someone thought it would be a good idea for demigods to start documenting their lives? For therapeutic reasons, maybe. Or just so they'll have more stories to tell around the campfire after we die.

*This story began as a collaboration with my close friends. Monique and Tristan, characters not yet introduced, have journals you can read.*


	2. Irritability

**January 11, 2015**

There are so many new demigods here. I recognize a few people from Camp Half-Blood, but I have no clue who a majority of the Romans are. And some new, unclaimed demigods are being sent here as well. There was a daughter of Venus in my archery course. Something seemed really off with her.

Nico's staying at camp for a while. I wish he would just go back to Camp Half-Blood already. What is with him? He hates me! He seems to think my existence is a problem he's responsible for or something.

I also met this unclaimed girl named Monique in the infirmary. I was delivering some deadly nightshade and she was just sitting there all pathetic and useless. I guess her leg was stabbed or something. She chatted frivolously at me for a while until the Apollo kid came to get the delivery. Why does the infirmary even need deadly nightshade? And I'm the one who has to get it for them because I can.

I swear, demigods are the most irritating people. There are two types of demigods: the ones who think it's all a big happy summer camp party with magic, and the ones who are determined to become more powerful than everyone else. Generally, the Aphrodite, Apollo, and Dionysus cabins fall into category 1, with the Ares, Athena, and Artemis cabins fitting into category 2. The gods really just need to stop having so many kids they don't even care about.


	3. A New Enemy

**January 12, 2015**

Some kids go to camp to make friends. Apparently I'm better at making enemies.

Her name is Tey Lewis, a daughter of Mars. She's a typical, war-like ginger. I walked into the individual combat arena and she was standing there, looking cool and bored, like she practically owned the place. She was wearing tight black leather, and chewing her gum haughtily as she made faces behind the teachers' backs. Percy and Jason co-teach the one-on-one combat. I think it's their way of hanging out when Jason is visiting camp.

We were all getting ready to fight, and I was "lucky" enough to be paired with Tey. She smirked at me and flipped her long hair over her shoulder, stepping into a battle position. I got into my own battle stance, and waited for Jason to say "go." I like it when Jason is in charge of my duels. He's usually a little more relaxed with me. Percy just tends to get awkward and stiff. Thanks for that Nico.

I readied my stygian iron short-sword, and watched as Tey did the same with her twin hunting knives. "I've been waiting a long time for this," she said.

"Yeah. I know. I really feel sorry for you Mars kids. You just have such a short attention span. Five minutes is like an eternity," I retorted, rolling my eyes.

Tey fumed. "So you don't remember me, shame. You'll remember me after this."

I paused for just a second. Come to think of it, she did look familiar…

"GO!" Jason shouted. My momentary distraction had thrown me off, and I barely stepped to the side as Tey jumped down onto the spot I'd been standing, knives whirling like a blender. I ducked down low to strike, but she was anticipating my actions and jumped over my head in an impressive flip. I turned around to meet her knives just in time. We pushed our blades against each other for an agonizing moment. I stepped to the side suddenly, releasing the tension. Tey stumbled forward and landed on her knees. Before she could get up I held the flat side of my sword to her back. I had won. I stepped back, sheathed my sword, and began to head for my cabin.

I heard a growling sound I would have recognized anywhere. It's the chilling noise a child of Mars makes when they're angry. I resisted the urge to pull out my sword. It would have been a sure declaration of war for an Mars kid.

"Where are you going? You can't back down from a duel!" Tey shouted.

I took a deep breath. "Look, you're new, so you don't really understand how things work around here. I won, so now I get to leave class early and you have to stay and fight the other losers," I replied. I turned around and started to walk away again. I really was doing a good job of controlling my temper.

Then she opened her mouth again. "I am NOT a loser," she growled. "You… you didn't win! In a real fight I... would have spun around and taken your sword before you could've hurt me!"

"Then I guess that's what you should have done," I huffed. "I really don't want to waste my time on you right now, so bye."

I started to walk away again when Tey got up and ran toward me. I whirled around just in time for her to crash into me, pushing us both down into the dirt. I rolled over so I was on top and tried to wrestle away her knives. My sword thudded against my thigh, but to grab it I'd have to let go of her wrists, giving Tey the advantage of her knives. I could feel my strength fading. Any Mars kid could beat me in wrestling match. This fight wasn't about strength or endurance, to win I'd have to act and think faster than my opponent.

I did a somersault and twisted her wrists out at a painful angle. It seemed to do the trick, she was now on top, but without either of her knives. I let go of her wrists and reached for my sword at the same time she went scrambling for her knives. We stood up, our blades went to clash on each other, and instead met a celestial bronze sword in the middle. I looked up to see Percy holding Riptide threateningly toward me. Jason's spear was aimed at Tey. I stepped back and sheathed my sword.

"What was that?!" Jason chided. The other campers were staring at us, witnessing my humiliation. "You could have hurt the other demigods, and you both broke nearly all the rules of one-on-one combat."

"I thought there weren't rules when it came to a real fight," I sneered. I could have won that fight too, and Tey would never have challenged me again. I could take care of myself, and instead the camp counselors had intervened. This wasn't over, the score wasn't settled. I could see it in Tey's eyes. Our next fight won't be as friendly and certainly not supervised.

Jason and Percy talked for a minute while Tey and I had silent glaring contests. Finally they made up their minds and gave us our individual sentences.

"You will be taking anger management classes from Frank," Jason began to tell me. I could see Percy saying something similar to Tey. "I know you didn't start the fight, but you sure didn't stop it. Your words can have just as much impact as the person who throws the first punch."

"Well that sounds nice and… philosophic, but Frank? Really? He HATES me!" I whined. Yeah. I whined.

"Don't be ridiculous. Frank is one of my best friends."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," I grumbled.

"You're so much like your brother," Jason mumbled.

That made my cheeks burn. I am nothing like Nico.

"You don't have to assume everyone hates you." Jason shook his head. "You only have to take the class for three weeks, and depending on Frank's schedule, you might not even have to go more than once a week."

"Gee, thanks," I retorted. I stormed back to my cabin. My middle finger may have twitched at Tey. Her tongue shot out in my direction.

But I guess in the end even I can make friends. I met this huntress named Evelyn in anger management class. She has wild auburn hair, sharp green eyes, and a scottish accent. We sat next to each other, and when she showed an instant dislike for Tey I knew we'd get along. She's going to help me with my archery class.

 **January 12, 2015 Again**

I've been terrorized by nightmares for days now. Weird dreams are a normal part of being a demigod right? I've had bad dreams before, but nothing like this.

Most of the time when I go to sleep I know where I am and what I'm doing. I can even go places in my dreams when I try, almost like I'm shadow-travelling in the dream world.

With these nightmares I don't know what's happening. I run around confused and completely out of control until I finally wake up in a cold sweat. I toss and turn as I try to sleep, but I fall back into the same dream and start over. It's so frustrating! These dreams leave me unsettled and on-edge all day. I'm so tired I'm falling asleep during my classes too.


	4. Sibling Rivalry

**January 14, 2015**

Today Nico and I tried to kill each other. It didn't work out so well. I've been so irritable the past few days. I know I have. If I just got more sleep maybe I wouldn't want to strangle everyone I meet.

Anyway, today in archery I was shooting next to Evelyn, the huntress, and we had an informal competition. She won of course, but I put up a good fight. She's giving me tips and I'm quickly getting better. We were walking back to the mess hall for lunch and talking.

I was so fed up with boys, really everyone, but especially boys. They seem to be dumber than usual this week. I figured if anyone understood it would be Evelyn. There's Nico, who is a jerk, Frank, who hates me, and that Hephaestus kid, Ryan Holt, that keeps trying to sit by me at lunch and be my "friend." I know he's only trying because he thinks that if he can get me to like him he'll have bragging rights amongst the other campers.

So I was telling Evelyn about all this stuff, and she listened very patiently, occasionally rolling her eyes and scoffing. Suddenly Evelyn decided that the solution to all my problems was becoming a huntress.

Of course, with my luck, Nico happened to be walking by at that point. I ignored him and continued my conversation with Evelyn. "Maybe," I mused. "Would Artemis be open to new huntresses? Right now I just feel like giving up on all this stuff."

"No!" Nico practically screamed.

"Woah. What's the big deal?" I asked.

"You can't become a huntress!"

"You're my half-brother, not my Mom. I can do whatever I want," I snapped. I was so fed up with Nico's attitude of mixed hatred and over-protective control. Make up your mind dude!

Nico blanched. I stomped off up the hill. "Wait!" Nico called after me. "Where are you going?"

"Back to my cabin," I replied shortly.

"You can't just walk away when I'm talking to you. You have to listen to me!" He screamed, grabbing my arm. "You can't become a huntress!" His eyes were open wide in panic.

Dark shadows formed and swirled around me, pushing Evelyn away. Nico's grip lessened, but he stood his ground. I pushed harder with my shadows, forcing Nico to let go and back off. He seethed, causing the ground to crack. A few confused ghosts tried to crawl out. I sent my shadows to push them back down. Nico glared at me and widened the crevice. It continued slowly stretching toward my feet. I growled back at him, wishing I could control the earth too and stop the fissure from widening.

I let a couple of the ghostly warriors out and fought for control over them. Nico fought back. They didn't do much but wander between the two of us, uncertain who to side with. I felt a bead of sweat grow on my brow. I released control over the spirits, which Nico would have conquered anyway, and increased my shadow efforts. My best chance would be to contain the warriors rather than control them.

Suddenly, I lost my balance. I stumbled to the side as the rift crumbled the ground underneath me. I caught myself at the last moment, but I lost my concentration and let down my shadows. The ghosts charged at me and I only barely managed to throw off their aim with a few wisps of darkness. I began pushing them back toward the chasm when an arrow whizzed past my head and through one of the ghosts. I turned to see Evelyn standing in a threatening stance with an arrow notched in her bow, ready to fire.

Because things weren't complicated enough, the Hephaestus kid… Ryan came bounding up the hill toward us with a random, spring-filled box in hand. "Hey guys! Look what I…." He took stock of what was going on and quickly sprinted back the way he'd come. "Percy!" he called. I sent a shadow to trip him. I did not need Percy's interference in this. Ryan turned to look at me and I gave him my nastiest glare. He gulped and ran off again, silent this time.

I turned my glare on Evelyn next. I didn't need her help. It's not like Nico and I were actually going to kill each other. We were just settling our argument the old fashioned way, by beating the ichor out of each other. She didn't budge, glaring back.

Several demigods were beginning to gather to watch the fight. They whispered anxiously, some terrified and others excited.

I surrounded Nico and myself in a dome of blackness. "This is between us!" I shouted. "Everyone else can just stay out of it."

"What is your problem?" I hissed at Nico. "One minute you don't seem to care that I exist, the next you want to keep me from making my own choices."

"I could care less what you do with your life, but I care that you have one."

"That doesn't make any sense." The grass around us was withering and growing a layer of frost. I started to turn my anger into fear and send it toward Nico. His eyes narrowed.

A new wave of fear crashed over me, stronger than what I had sent at Nico. I gasped and redirected the fear away from myself. I heard several demigods scream. I looked at Nico's wide eyes. He was adding his own fear to the tension. "What are you so afraid of?!" I screamed, pulling out my sword.

I charged toward Nico, and he met my sword with his own. The two reverberated off each other with a bone-chilling clang. The shadows thickened around us, writhing and taking on a life of their own. I threw a fake punch at Nico's jaw and he caught my fist. My knee swung up into his gut, causing him to bend over. He shot back up quickly, butting his head into my stomach and knocking us both over. I kicked his shoulder as I stood up and grabbed my sword that had flew a few feet away. I turned to face Nico again. I jabbed at his side, but he blocked me. Dark purple smoke rose from the impact, thickening the shadow dome again. He slashed at my cheek, but I twisted and met his sword, with only a small cut. More smoke.

Suddenly a bright light pierced the darkness. Percy's bronze sword sliced into the shadows, allowing him to step between Nico and I. Frank ran in after Percy, joining him with an arrow notched in his bow.

"Stop!" Percy shouted. The shadow dome dissipated, revealing a large, very shocked crowd. Nico and I reluctantly lowered our swords, but we kept glaring at each other.

"What got into you two? You could have destroyed the whole camp!" I looked around. The grass was completely blackened and several trees had begun to wither. Nico's chasm was large enough to fit a hellhound inside comfortably, but I guess a demigod who stumbled into the pit wouldn't be comfortable.

Percy and Frank took us to the head cabin so Annabeth could decide what to do with us. Frank kept an eye on me while we waited in tense silence for whatever miserable punishment would be inflicted on me.

Annabeth finally appeared in the doorway and waved me inside. "You can go teach your class," she told Frank. "I'll be fine." Frank nodded and left. I actually really like Annabeth. She's one of the only people who doesn't seem to care that my father is the lord of death and my brother is the psycho with skeleton armies at his command.

"Claire, please tell me everything."

I told Annabeth about Nico's tantrum because of my conversation with Evelyn, and our subsequent fight.

Annabeth sighed, looking very tired. I suddenly felt guilty for putting all this stress on her. Who else could run a demigod camp and finish a college degree in architecture online, all while being pregnant.

"I'm afraid you'll have to leave Camp Parthenon. We want greeks and romans to learn to live together in peace. I'm sorry, Claire."

I gaped at her for a second.

"You can leave tomorrow morning. Take the rest of today to pack your things and notify your aunt."

"Yeah… okay." I left in a daze. On the way I passed the recreation room. I heard Nico and Percy talking. I stopped next to the door to listen.

"A huntress. She wanted to become a huntress," Nico's breathing sounded hoarse.

"Oh," Percy said. "So, that's what started the fight?"

"... yeah."

"I get it."

"You know, Hades told me to take care of her. The first day we met… Hades asked me to take some hellhounds back to the underworld. He told me that my sister would join me for the quest. 'Do a better job of keeping this one alive,' he said. I thought he was talking about Hazel. I was so stupid."

"But he meant Claire…" Percy realized.

"I think so. If Bianca… if Bianca were still alive…"

I slid backward along the wall to the empty room next door. It was dark. I slipped into the shadows and back to my cabin. I threw my clothes in an old black duffel bag and collapsed on my bed to write this all down.

Bianca. I never knew how she died, only that she had. Did it have something to do with being a huntress? I guess at least I know why Nico was so worried about me all the time. Great. Now I'm starting to cry. It's just… I'm not Bianca. I don't need Nico's protection, I need a brother. But how do I tell him that?


	5. Family

**January 23, 2015**

I haven't written in a while because of my suspension. But guess what? I'm not the only one that was getting in trouble. They just found out that a bunch of demigods were going crazy because of that weird roman girl I met in archery a while ago. She was charmspeaking in her sleep and spreading tension everywhere she went. And that is why emotionally unstable daughters of Venus are bad for everyone. When they found out what was going on they decided to let me come back. But I have to take extra anger management classes for the foreseeable future.

After I was kicked out I stayed in an old house I knew was empty. About two days later Helen iris messaged me and told me to go back home with her. Of course she was upset and yelled at me for a while. But then she offered to make me pancakes and we started having a good conversation without fighting. I think it helps that I don't live with her anymore.

Helen finally agreed to tell me about my family.

My grandmother could see through the mist. she had a few demigod friends but never really got involved in the greek world more than that. But because of her friendships she raised my mother and aunt Helen to know about greek mythology.

Helen inherited my grandmother's gift to see through the mist. Of course one of my grandmother's friends, a daughter of Hecate, noticed this and decided to teach her a few tricks. My aunt eventually became a follower of Hecate and served her for a few years.

While Helen was away my mom got involved in greek mythology… with my dad. I guess she got this mysterious boyfriend that would never go home to meet her parents. He knew my grandma would be able to tell what he was. See, this was when the pledge not to be involved with mortals or have kids was still active. Hades wasn't eager to be caught breaking the pact. Not that it mattered in the end because both Zeus and Poseidon had already broken the agreement at that point, unbeknownst to Hades.

When my mom found out she was pregnant, she got really excited. She told my dad and talked about the life they could have together. Hades panicked and finally explained who he was. Then he told her why they couldn't be together, made her promise to keep my parentage a secret, and left. My mom was shocked and devastated. She tried to raise me the best she could and never told anyone who my dad was. She was heart-broken, but she kept her promise for his sake and my own. Of course my grandma knew right away that I was a demigod, but she couldn't convince my mom to tell her who my dad was.

When I was three years old my mom died in a car accident. I was in the back seat. As soon as I was taken to the hospital my grandma managed to find out where my aunt was and convince her to come back. She snuck me a little ambrosia and I pulled through. My grandma told Helen all the things that had happened while she was away.

Helen knew my grandma couldn't take care of me forever, so she talked to Hecate and retired early so she could take care of me. She eventually had a couple kids of her own, divorced her husband, and struggled to keep me hidden from the greek world with her power over the mist.

And that's basically the depressing story I never knew of my family. Still no pictures, but that's not very surprising.


	6. Happy Birthday

**January 27, 2015**

I'm 16 now.

 **January 30, 2015**

Today we played capture the flag. I was on the red team, with Jason as the captain. Our cabins were Ares, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Artemis, Demeter, Janus, and Nemesis. Percy led the yellow team with the remaining cabins.

My team won, no real surprise there. We did end up with the best cabins. And luckily we weren't tied down with the Aphro/Venus kids. They're very... high maintenance.

Our strategy was pretty simple. First we sent the Ares kids to ambush the other team. Some of the Dionysus boys distracted the Aphrodite girls. The Hephaestus kids made a lot of booby traps. Jason lead an elite squad of soldiers to the other team's flag. And I hid in the shadows with Evelyn and a few other hunters, waiting for anyone to even try getting close to our flag. A couple people tried to get the flag, but they didn't get very far. The other cabins just kind of helped out wherever necessary.


	7. Lunch

February 8, 2015

Nico's visiting for a while. It's because Will is here visiting and training some of his siblings that work in the infirmary. He's actually a pretty cool guy.

Nico and I have pretty much been ignoring each other, except today we sat together at lunch. Frank decided it would be good if we could spend some time talking and getting along. I think he just did it to torture me. I swear Nico and I were followed the whole time. They don't trust us to get along yet. Whatever.

We chatted about pointless things. Nico told me a bit about the underworld and told me that Dad wants to meet me. I shrugged and changed the subject. Maybe I'll go to the underworld someday, but it's not happening any time soon.


	8. Danse Macabre

**February 9, 2015**

Not much has been going on around camp lately, but today was different.

I was walking with Monique, who had healed from being stabbed in the leg, and was apparently claimed by Zeus while I was suspended. We'd just finished one-on-one combat and won our matches. We'll never fight each other of course. Percy wouldn't let that happen or it would probably destroy the world.

Monique did most of the talking and just kind of led me around. I wasn't ready to go back to my cabin right away. We were having inspection later and the sooner I went back the sooner I'd have to start cleaning, so instead I followed her. We were almost to the forest when I heard something.

A lively melody filled the air. It was accompanied by some singing, clapping, and occasional shouts. Hardly realizing I was doing so, I turned around and walked until I found myself standing in front of the Apollo cabin. They were all gathered outside on the porch dancing, laughing, singing, and basically just goofing off. A few kids from other cabins had stopped to join in as well. No one seemed to notice me, so I just stood there. A girl I vaguely remembered as April was the center of attention. She had an instrument perched on her shoulder. Her fingers flew rapidly over it as she brushed a stick back and forth on the strings. When the song ended everyone applauded her skill and threw out song requests.

I pushed my way to the front of the crowd. "What is that?" I asked. April glanced my way, startled to see me.

"It's a violin..." she began. "Haven't you seen one before?"

"I guess I probably have, but not up close," I admitted. "Can I try?"

"Try what?" April started to look nervous.

"That. The… violin. I want to try."

"Umm… well… I guess. Just be really careful." She handed me the delicate instrument like it was a baby. I pulled it up to my shoulder the way I'd seen her do. It was a beautiful red color and the strings were still warm from her playing. By then most of the Apollo kids were fidgeting. They were eager to get back to their partying and kind of irritated that I'd interrupted.

April handed me the stick, which she called a "bow." I drew it across the strings with a scratching noise. One of the kids stifled a laugh, but I didn't care. I lifted the bow again and placed my fingers instinctively on the strings. Before I knew it, the violin was actually making music. My hands moved almost on their own to find notes. The melody wasn't cheerful like April's. It was creeping and dancing and sharp. When I finished I handed the violin reluctantly back to April, who snatched it from my grasp.

"Um. Wow," said one of the demigods in the crowd, who I then noticed were all staring at me.

"You didn't have to lie and tell me you'd never seen a violin before, then pick it up and play Danse Macabre. If I knew you played, I would have been a lot less worried about my instrument," April chided. Her cheeks were flushed red.

"But I've never even touched a violin in my life!" I protested. My fingers were still tingling from the vibration of the strings.

Before anyone had a chance to do anything the ground started to rumble. I caught my balance and looked down. A small fissure had appeared. Out came a violin made of dark wood. It was beautiful. A scroll curled around the smallest string, reading:

Happy late birthday

-Hades (Dad)

P.S. Come visit some time.

I promise not to bite,

but I can't make any

guarantees about Persephone.

Yeah. Not taking him up on that offer. If Hades ever really wanted to meet me he could just come up here or something. This was the second gift he'd ever given me. The first was my stygian iron sword when I turned 13. I guess he thought it would be cute if Nico and I had matching weapons. Honestly, I have no clue what goes on in the head of the god of death.

I stormed off and of course Monique ran up and followed me. She pestered me to tell her what was going on until I finally just handed her the note. "Oh wow," was the best response she could come up with before giving the note back. At least her Dad had actually cared enough to come to camp and claim her. It made me angry to think about. Pretty much everyone at camp has met their godly parent, and mine just doesn't care.

"Can I be alone now?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh, ya, sure, sorry," she muttered, running off like I had the plague.

I looked down at the little piece of paper in my hand. I had such mixed feelings I wasn't sure what to do with it. I'm still not sure. I could burn it, or bury it, or frame it. For now I'm going to leave it in the back of this journal for reference.

But it's weird that I can play an instrument I've never seen until today. I did some quick research, and the violin used to be considered "the devil's instrument." The devil usually translates to Hades, so maybe my dad invented and/or played the violin? If Aphrodite's kids can speak French just because it's a "love language" and Poseidon's kids can telepathically communicate with pegasi, why can't Hades' kids play the violin? Seriously, this demigod stuff makes about as much sense as a drunk satyr telling a story.


	9. Capture the Flag

**February 11, 2015**

Today we played capture the flag. I was on the red team again, but it was divided up differently. The hunters came to visit, so we did a three-way game. The hunters probably would have won if this random new camper hadn't shown up. She grabbed their silver flag and started beating people with it before she ran screaming off the side of the cliff. That's what I heard anyway. I was busy with something else.

I was running around in the shadows, minding my own business, and trying to find the yellow team's flag when out of nowhere came this kid with different-colored eyes. He was wearing a yellow armband. "Uh… Hello? Is someone there?" he choked out.

I was still cloaked in my shadows, which gave me a brilliant idea. "Yes. I'm here, mortal. Show me to your team flag or suffer my wrath," I commanded. I couldn't directly impersonate a god or I'd probably be struck down instantly, but I could seem… powerful... I could tell he didn't really believe me.

The guy's blue eye looked intimidated, but his brown eye seemed calm and cunning. It was weird seeing two expressions on one face, and I couldn't tell which one was his real emotion. "Allow me to know your name, powerful being," he tested.

"Uh… I grow tired of this conversation. If you will not show me the flag I will find it myself." I began to stride past him, but before I could get far he dove into my shadow cloud and grabbed my wrist. I let the shadows go. He must've already known who I was if he'd been confident enough to reach into the shadows to stop me.

He looked confused as I jerked my wrist away from his grasp. "What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"I don't know. What's wrong with you?!" I retorted. "Show me where the flag is or I'll have to… I don't know, knock you out or something. I can't have you going after my team's flag."

"Then I guess you're knocking me out. There's no way I'd betray my team. Also, my name is Jayce. When people start wondering where I am could you tell them? I don't want to stay in the forest unconscious for too long." He gave me an annoying grin before I hit him on the head with the handle of my sword. He crumpled to the ground and I ran off to find the yellow flag.

* Sorry for the delay in posting a new chapter. Chapters will usually be updated on Friday evenings. Thank you for reading. :) *


	10. Tristan

**2/13/15**

Something really weird happened at lunch today...

I was sitting at lunch with my small group of friends, and Ryan (the annoying Hephaestus kid who seems to think we're friends), looking around the dining hall when suddenly it hit me.

I sat up completely straight, barely able to breathe. Somewhere far away I heard a startled gasp and a cup being knocked to the floor. I didn't recognize where I was, but somehow I… knew. It was like entering a dream. The world around me was white. Snowflakes fell gently from the sky, swirling around bare white tree branches. Everything was so peaceful, except me. I'd been running and only just stopped to catch my breath. There was no sign of my pursuer and the stitch in my side told me I'd be resting whether I wanted to or not.

I slumped against a tree trunk and slid into the snow. It felt good against my hot, stinging skin. The world felt shaky and out of focus. The air was thin and sharp. The longer I sat the easier it was to breathe and the heavier my eyelids seemed.

Just as sleep began to creep upon me, something dropped from the sky. Its leathery wings snapped shut. "You shouldn't leave a dinner party early. Isss terribly rude," the gorgon hissed.

I jumped to my feet and tried to run, a new adrenaline rush giving me extra strength. It was no use, it had me cornered. Before I could make it anywhere she snatched me up in her talons and took to the sky. I squirmed around, figuring I had a better chance facing the ground than the gorgons.

"Stop it!" she screeched. "Fussy demigods. Always struggling. Oh well." I screamed in agony as the gorgon's talons dug into my neck. A crack was the last thing I heard before everything went black.

I thought I was dead. How could I not be? I had that tingly feeling in my fingers. But I could feel myself breathing. People were whispering around me.

"Uh, Claire?" a voice asked. All I could do was grunt. "Someone help?" the voice asked again.

"Get her to the infirmary," a guy's voice ordered. Some people picked me up and carried me away. When I tried to open my eyes the light was too much. "Keep your eyes closed. You'll be fine, the guy said.

I was laid on a bed in the infirmary that squeaked with every movement. People shuffled out the door, leaving me alone with the guy, some random cougher in the corner, and probably some other Apollo kids going about their business. My senses were still a little off, making it hard to know exactly who was in the room.

"Can you talk?" he asked.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah," I rasped as he checked my pulse.

"Good. Open your eyes." I looked up to see someone I'd never met before standing over me. He had brown hair with almost red highlights that shone through when the sun caught them. He was hard to look at with the light streaming through a window. I figured he must be a son of Apollo. The most noticeable thing about him were his eyes. They were an intense sky blue clouded over with a fading green mistiness.

I must have been really out of it because the only thing I managed to croak out was, "What's wrong with your eyes?"

He just laughed. "My name's Tristan. Nice to meet you." He surprised me by placing a bite of ambrosia in my mouth. I chewed it slowly. Tristan tried to help me sit up, but I pushed his arm away. I pushed myself up and back against the cold, metal bed frame. He gave me another piece and I ate it on my own. It did the trick. Things started to seem normal again and the lead began to drain from my limbs. Tristan was looking at me expectantly.

"Oh, yeah. My name's Claire."

"You're a daughter of Pluto?" it wasn't really a question. He was being polite by not mentioning all the rumors that indicated exactly who I was. I almost told him I was a daughter of Hades, not Pluto, but I figured it didn't matter.

"You're a son of Apollo right?" I continued the formalities. He nodded.

"So, you had a vision, right? It was pretty nasty. I'm guessing you don't have much experience with visions or control over them."

"Excuse me?"

"since it happened once, it might happen again. You can't have a seizure and mumble to yourself whenever you have a vision. And the screaming is definitely out."

I groaned. Like I needed another reason for everyone in camp to gossip about me and think I was a freak.

"How do you know I was having a vision?" I questioned.

Tristan's voice dropped to a whisper as another kid passed us on his way out the infirmary. "Because I saw it too." My jaw dropped open. "At first I thought you had just passed out at the same time I had a vision, but then I realized it couldn't have been a coincidence. Especially with the… mumbling."

"Oh. What?" I asked stupidly.

"Exactly. I've never heard of two demigods sharing a vision at the same time! Without help from a god anyway," Tristan whispered excitedly. It was obvious he didn't want the other people in the infirmary to hear us.

"Well yeah. I don't really know much about visions and stuff. But my sister Hazel can sort of share memories with people…" I began.

"Memories!" he interrupted excitedly, "that's it! That's why it didn't feel normal." He beamed with excitement at his discovery. Suddenly he became somber again. "That's a messed up memory," he said looking at me sadly.

"Yeah. You must've had one bad childhood," I replied.

"What are you talking about? That's not my memory."

"It's not mine either. Thankfully I've never met a gorgon in my life. And I'd never be anywhere I couldn't at least use my shadows to defend myself. There wasn't much I could do to fight back in that memory," I confided. And thinking about it a little more I realized something. "And whoever's memory that was definitely died."

"Did you get that death sense?" he asked intensely.

"Well, yeah, but it didn't feel… recent."

"What's it like?" he inquired, completely missing the point. He looked so eager. It's not exactly something most people ask about.

"When a death occurs nearby it feels sort of like shivers running down my spine. When I go somewhere a death has occurred in the past it's more like a tingling in my fingers."

He nodded and sort of mentally disappeared for a while. "Wait!" he exclaimed, jumping back into reality. "You said the death didn't feel recent…" I nodded. "So we saw someone else's memory of death in the past."

I thought about it for a moment. "Yeah I guess. Probably… a year ago at least."

After that Tristan got lost in thought and just stopped talking. By then I was feeling well enough to go back to my cabin. I did get excused from the rest of my classes so I could take a nap. As my brother has said: "with great power comes a great need for a nap." He is right… sometimes. Having visions is rough. So since I had a "seizure" earlier, the counselors encouraged me to take the day off. Like I'd pass up a free skip.


	11. Doomsday

**2/14/15**

Doomsday.

Today the Aphrodite kids got a brilliant idea. I imagine it going something like this:

"Girls, this is like, totally our day. We should spread joy and makeup everywhere!" they giggle.

"I know!" one squeaks. Probably that new girl Amy. "Claire passed out and had a seizure yesterday. We should do something nice for her, like a makeover!" They all ooh and ah.

And they must've all had something to drink from the Dionysus cabin, because they had the guts to go through with this wacked-up plan.

I was walking around, avoiding Ryan after lunch, when Aphrodite kids popped out of nowhere and surrounded me. They slowly pushed in closer with lipstick and glitter in hand. They were giggling and making random, incomprehensible comments. I could tell what they had in mind: a makeover. It freaked me out so much I didn't know what to do. They pressed closer and started to poke at me.

"Back. Off!" I shouted. Shadows jumped around me threateningly. The Aphrodite kids shrieked and jumped away. "What in the underworld are you doing?!"

They all stuck out their lower lips in a perfectly synchronized pout. The somewhat brave, but foolish leaders of the pack… Bri-something and I can't remember… started to open their mouths.

"No! Don't you dare try to charmspeak me!" I yelled. Their dainty jaws snapped shut.

"Claire, I'm trying to apologize. I was really mad the other day because you knocked out my boyfriend, and I thought we should try to get along, and..." Amy began.

"Apology accepted. Go away," I interrupted.

"Don't you want to look good for the dance?"

"What dance?" I snorted.

"The Valentine's dance! My mom's even sending us all dresses to wear!" she squealed excitedly.

'Um," I wasn't sure how to respond. "No. Bye!" I started to go away, but she shouted at me to wait with charmspeak and grabbed my arm. I shook the fuzz from my head and sent shadows swirling around to warn Amy. Normal people would've let go and run away the minute they saw the darkness. But Amy is apparently not normal.

"Aaah!" she screamed, but didn't let go. Stupid. "Brianne! Get someone! Claire, I'm not trying to hurt…" She was speaking to me in that voice you use to calm wild animals.

I sighed. I'd had more than enough Aphrodite for one day. "Just let me leave. I don't want to go to the dance," I told her.

"Fine!" she sneered. Finally, her grasp released. She helped Brianne up and tried to leave, but of course Percy showed up. He knows just when to spoil a moment.

"Percy!" Amy whined, "We were just trying to make her feel better."

"Uh… okay?" He said. It was obvious he'd only just showed up and wasn't sure what was going on.

Of course Amy saw this as the perfect moment to tattle. "She started freaking out, and sent her shadows to attack us!" Amy accused.

"I DID NOT!" I shouted. "They were just warning you." I scoffed at her ignorance.

"Do you see them?" she continued, gesturing to the other Aphrodite girls crying on the ground. "If that was a warning, it was too much!"

Honestly I didn't feel even a little bad. If anything I was tempted to smack them around a little. "What should I have done? Made an appointment and politely requested some privacy over tea and cookies?" I jeered.

"Better than scaring my siblings half to death!" she scolded.

I sighed. Aphrodite kids. "Wimps," I muttered.

"So what if we're delicate! That's not our fault."

"Huh." I snickered. "I have nothing to add. you just insulted yourself plenty." Of course she didn't seem to get it.

"No, I accept the fact that we are made for a higher quality lifestyle than you!" she taunted. I rolled my eyes. Really? A 'higher quality lifestyle?' Give me a break.

"You need higher quality cushions anyway," I retorted. "Your butts must get sore from sitting around doing makeup all day."

Amy stepped forward threateningly and I stepped forward to meet her.

"Woah. Break it up!" Percy interrupted. "I think you both need to start attending Frank's classes!"

I moaned. "I already am... Perseus."

"Don't call me that. And next time take Amy with you."

"What?" Amy and I both said at the same time.

"Do I really have to give her an escort to anger management classes? She's that much of a wuss?" I asked incredulously.

"I am not a wuss!" she protested. "The only reason I haven't been training with a sword is because I was stabbed in the gut with my own sword!"

I was feeling bitter about the whole ordeal. I know that's not much of an excuse, but that's what I'm going with. So of course, I had to make things worse. "Gee that sucks. Not like other people get stabbed sometimes."

"That's it!" she hissed. She pulled out her sword and ran toward me.

"Let's go beauty queen," I responded, pulling out my own sword and quickly dodging to the side to avoid her clumsy charge.

"Ready to meet your Dad?" she exclaimed. As though she could/would actually kill me. Then she pulled my hair.

"Hey!" I growled. "Who taught you to fight?!" Seriously. How immature. But if that's how we were going to do things… I grabbed her silky smooth hair in my fist and chopped it off.

"NOOOOOO!" she wailed. She fell to her knees, grasping at her lost locks.

"It'll grow back," I reassured. It's ridiculous how much value the Aphrodite kids put on their hair. Percy chose that moment to really interfere and pushed us apart.

"It took me five years to get it that long!" Amy whimpered.

"Get over it. Don't you have magical hair growing stuff at your disposal anyway?"

"You both need to spend some time in the detention center," Percy decided.

"But I have to help prepare for the dance!" Amy protested.

Percy ran his hand through his hair. "Look, because no real harm was done I'll let you go after an hour. But you need some time to think about what you've done." Then he got a weird look on his face. "Gee… I sounded like such a… Dad just barely. Huh."

"NO REAL HARM? DO YOU SEE MY HAIR?" Amy cried. Percy and I sighed and the three of us walked to the detention center. Amy sniffled and mourned her lost hair the whole way.

Well, my time in the detention center is finally up so I'm going to leave now. I think I'll spend the night in my cabin eating chocolate. There is no way I'll be attending Amy's dumb Valentine's Dance. Maybe I'll invite Evelyn over. I'm pretty sure the forever-single hunters won't be attending the dance anyway.


	12. The Dance

**2/14/15 (again)**

I thought I would do nothing this evening, but surprisingly Evelyn (the forever single, anti-men, huntress) changed my mind.

True to her word, Aphrodite sent everyone something nice to wear to the dance. My dress showed up on my doorstep in an incredibly small little box. I opened it up and pulled out a gorgeous gown and a black mid-sleeve shrug. The dress was dark green with black tulle over it and sequins on the bodice. I have to admit, it's pretty. I might keep it around just in case I ever need something nice to wear.

I tried to fit the dress back into the box, but I couldn't stuff it in no matter how hard I squeezed. I think Aphrodite did that on purpose so I couldn't return it. I hung the dress in my closet and pulled out my violin. Since getting the instrument, I've noticed it helps clear my thoughts to play out my emotions. And I never really have to worry about what I'm playing because it sort of just pours out. I started playing inside, but I just couldn't stand the claustrophobic feeling that filled the cabin.

Stepping outside, I lifted my bow onto the string and it made that creaking noise I've come to love. I smiled to myself, and started to play. It was an intense melody that required a lot of arm movement back and forth. The tune was fast and extremely difficult, even with my "natural" ability. I slowly slid into a sitting position and lost myself in the song. When it finished I noticed Evelyn standing in front of me.

"What song were ya playin'?" she asked.

"Uh… I'm not sure… Violin Concerto by Bela Bartok." It suddenly popped into my mind. How did I even know that? Evelyn sat next to me and I placed my violin against the wall on my left. "Are you going to the dance tonight?" I asked her after a moment of awkward silence.

"Yeah. I didn't want to at first, but it seems important to Aphrodite an' I'd prefer not gettin' cursed," she answered grudgingly.

"Yeah…" Aphrodite's anger hadn't even crossed my mind. "I was just going to stay in my cabin and sleep. Maybe I'll have some Dr. Pepper and chocolate. No one even asked me to the dance, surprise, surprise, but I did get a dress. Want to see it?" I do kind of like it...

She nodded, and I ran inside and pulled out my dress.

"I like it," Evelyn decided. "It suits you."

"Uh... I'm not sure that's such a good thing," I chuckled. "What did you get?"

She carefully pulled her dress out of the box. How she'd gotten it back inside, I have no clue. I couldn't help laughing when I saw it. It was very… plaid and a little wild-looking. "Oh wow. It's perfect!" I exclaimed. "How did you get Aphrodite to send you something like that? YOu'll probably be the only person there without a fancy gown."

"Let's just say a wee bit of prayer goes a long way. Oh, and I've been thinking. Want to come stag with me to the dance? All the Artemis lassies will be coming too."

"Only if we're gonna crash it. I'm not feeling particularly friendly toward one of the Aphrodite girls right now." I imagined Amy's face and felt my cold fingers grow hot.

"Crashing the dance? I like your way of thinking. Can't you just picture it? A whole bunch of scary, single lassies bursting in with you giving off rays of terror," Evelyn agreed with a laugh. "And then, I'll dance a nice jig! You can't have a dance without one! You can play yer violin with it."

"Sure. Why not? What better way to attend a dance than going stag with terror waves and Scottish folk dancing?" I couldn't help but smile so much my cheekbones hurt. "Let's do this. Tell the other Artemis girls what's going on. I'll meet you at your cabin in about fifteen minutes so we'll have thirty before the dance starts. How many others are there?"

"Fifteen including me."

"Great. I'll see you then." I said goodbye and jumped into my cabin to get ready. No turning back...

After fussing with my hair and failing, I decided to just go to the Artemis cabin. I tried to fold my dress up neatly, but it didn't work. I got it into a somewhat manageable pile and placed my violin on top, running as fast as I could without dropping anything.

I knocked on Evelyn's door and ran to get dressed in their bathroom. I struggled for a while, then finally gave up. We're all girls.

"Will you help me zip it up?" I asked Evelyn, gesturing to the back of my dress. "I could only get it half-way." She helped me without making it awkward and motioned for me to sit down. The other huntresses were already in their dresses, making me feel extra embarrassed for showing up unprepared. I looked at Evelyn and thought it kind of ridiculous that she was wearing a wild, clan-woman, scottish dress when everyone else had silver evening gowns. Evelyn wasn't completely out of place though. She wore some silver jewelry and looked ready to jig.

I started tuning my violin and warming up, hardly aware of what I was doing. Seeing how everyone looked ready for a formal dance made me wonder if I was missing something. "Do you think I should wear eyeliner?" I ventured. It was something I'd been wanting to try, but never dared.

"No. Aphrodite would want you to wear makeup, and that isn't happening," Evelyn argued.

"Well, maybe, but it might be kind of intimidating to have really thick black eyeliner..." I pointed out.

"True. Do it. You are going there to scare people after all."

I grinned. "Yes I am." I plucked the lowest string hard. Someone handed me some eyeliner from out of nowhere. She told me I could keep it, so after a few failed attempts and a final success, I tucked it into a hidden pocket in my skirt. One of the girls attacked my wavy hair with a brush and pulled it back away from my face.

"Are we all ready?" someone inquired. I began to feel a sort of nervous anticipation. My first dance… kind of. And I couldn't wait to see the look on Amy's face. But I would be playing my violin in front of everyone...

The girls nodded and marched out the door in an almost military fashion.

The Valentine's dance was outside at the pavilion. Beautiful violin music floated through the air and mixed with what I guessed were other string instruments. A quartet, maybe? I paused just a moment to listen to the harmonies.

"Do you hear that, Claire?" Evelyn commented, pulling me out of my reverie. "It's the sound of misery."

"Oh whatever. I'm sure we can mix things up a bit."

The huntresses kind of skulked by the entry. Evelyn rolled her eyes and pushed past them, striding into the pavilion. The other girls followed suit and I was the last one to enter. By then people had noticed the strange commotion and I, unfortunately, had quite a large audience witness my arrival. I sent out just a couple waves of fear to ease my own nerves. Just then the string quartet ended their piece and took a small break to switch music and stretch their fingers.

Better now than never, I thought. I took a deep breath and let it out as I raised my violin. I started with a high note sliding down to something lower and began to fiddle. Evelyn jumped in with some pretty fancy footwork. Her face lit up and I'm sure she enjoyed it more than she'd care to admit. People backed out of Evelyn's way as her moves spread out, becoming larger and more complicated with every step. Finally the song ended and Evelyn gave a not-very-proper curtsy.

I tucked my violin under my arm and bowed dramatically. Everyone looked a little astounded and more than a few Aphrodite kids were glaring at us. Amongst them was Amy, but she quickly turned back to her boyfriend and got back into the party.

The huntresses and I sat at a table in the corner. A few of them got up to dance (without boys of course). The rest of us talked about random things, then left early.

Evelyn danced briefly with Drake, probably because she felt bad about shooting him in the foot.

And so concludes the worst holiday that turned out to be not too bad.


	13. Death, Again

February 16, 2015

Whoever thought it would be a good idea to teach all of the demigods how to fly pegasi must have been high.

My lesson started today at 9:00 AM. I got there a couple minutes late and stood there awkwardly until someone showed up. It was this girl I didn't recognize. She was super friendly and introduced herself as Amber, a daughter of Demeter.

She showed me a black pegasus skulking near the back of the stalls. He looked seriously depressed. She told me his name was Slade and that I'd be riding him. I think the pegasus and I both whimpered with dismay. Amber got out her own pegasus and the four of us, demigods and pegasi, went outside.

I got reluctantly onto Slade's back. I felt him shiver underneath me. I gripped his mane tightly and tried to calm my shaking hands. As Slade got ready to take off I said a few quick prayers. "Hades, uh… Dad, please don't let Zeus blast me out of the sky. Also, um Makaria, my sister, if I die today please let it be not too awful and bloody."

Then we were in the air. I've heard flying described as a weightless, free feeling. That description is inadequate; there is no way to describe flying accurately. It's almost worse than drowning. Wind rushed into and past my ears. The world seemed to spin beneath me and I knew any minute I'd go crashing into the earth and die. I imagined a little Claire-pancake on the ground and gripped Slade's mane even harder. I realized I was screaming and took deep breaths, trying to calm down and shut up. "Let me down. Let me down. Let me down," I repeated. My brain was too scrambled to do anything else.

Slade landed at some point, but I hardly noticed. My eyes were squeezed shut in terror and I didn't open them until Amber tapped my shoulder. I Slid to the ground in relief. She took Slade back to the stable for me. My legs wobbled unsupportively, so I just sat down. When I finally felt strong enough I stood up and walked back to my cabin.

When I was finally in my cabin I grabbed some chocolate from the secret vault and laid down on my bed. I didn't go to lunch or come out of my room until some Apollo kid sent me a message asking for more deadly nightshade. Why do they use so much of that stuff anyway? I have no idea what's it's for, but apparently I'm the only one who can retrieve it because of my immunity to poisons. I have a stash in the vault so I don't have to go on weird trips all the time, which is what they think I do.

The hidden vault in my cabin is pretty awesome. It's where I keep deadly nightshade, various poisons, chocolate, and Diet Coke. And sometimes during cabin inspection I put my violin in there. I don't want people touching it.

So I got some deadly nightshade and went to the infirmary. The Apollo kids switch off being the head of the infirmary, so I had to wait for whoever it was to come out and take my delivery. Finally he came out of the secluded room in the back. My heart stopped when I saw it was Tristan. He looked surprised to see me too. Then it happened again.

. . .

It was nighttime. I was standing near one of the rivers. In the distance I could hear faint music and people laughing. The scene should have been peaceful, but it wasn't.

"She's mine!" an angry voice yelled. A man pushed me forcefully back. In the murky shadows it took me a moment to recognize the person. It was Keiden, the creeper who kept trying to hit on Monique. Seriously, hit on the daughter of Zeus when she already has a boyfriend? Keiden never struck me as being particularly intelligent.

"She doesn't like you Keiden. She chose me, and you need to get over it," I said. But it wasn't my voice. It was deep and manly. I (but not me) was angry at Keiden. So angry I wanted to beat him to a pulp, but I didn't.

"You're no match for her. She and I would be perfect together. You're just in the way," Keiden growled.

"Go away Keiden. You're just drunk."

"Oh am I?" Keiden's eyes flashed furiously, and his hands came up in fists. He was sober. I gulped. A bruise on my arm seemed to ache with the memory of Keiden's anger when he was drunk. Sober, his mind was thinking clearly and any punches he threw would not be misplaced on an arm. I took a defensive position and prepared for a fight.

"We don't have to do this. There are so many other girls at camp for you to flirt with."

"But you won't give up Monique?"

"No. I'd never leave Mo. If you want to be specific, I'll never let a scumbag like you near my girl, especially since I saw you attack her in her cabin only two days ago! Remember that? She ran to me, and I won't let you hurt her."

"Shame. Things could have been so much simpler." Keiden lunged forward. I ducked underneath his attack, but he knew what he was doing and he was a lot better than I'd anticipated. Instead of being off-balance as I'd intended him to be, he made his weight spin him gracefully around to meet me again. I lifted my palm to block a punch, but instead I got a kick to the gut. I doubled over and received another shove. I stumbled back a few paces right into a large pine tree and I felt some sap drip onto my shoulder. My ADHD was kicking in and I desperately looked for a way out. I didn't get a chance to act.

Keiden knocked me on the side of the head, easily avoiding the arm I threw up to block him. I lost my balance and fell the the ground, hitting my head on a rock. The world spun. I tried to get up but Keiden held me down, his big hands pressing down on my neck. He grinned maliciously.

"We could've been friends. But you chose to be selfish," he chided. My lungs burned. My vision was fading. I pushed against Keiden, but it was no use. He held me down easily. The strength in my arms was failing. Keiden kept talking, but I didn't hear anything else. Finally my limbs went slack and my eyes closed.

. . .

I woke up on the infirmary floor with a huge headache. "Ow," I whimpered. Tristan came over and gave me a hand up. I sat down on one of the beds because I was too dizzy to stand. Tristan started checking me for a concussion, then took the deadly nightshade I'd dropped into the back room. I knew I'd seen another memory of death. And I knew whose it was. I needed to tell Monique her boyfriend was dead. I stood and started walking to the door. I stumbled a bit and had to balance myself on the wall.

Tristan came out of the back and forced me to sit down again. "I have to tell Monique!" I huffed.

"No, you don't. You need to eat this," he said shoving some ambrosia at me. I took it and chewed quickly. It helped. I tried to stand up again but he wouldn't let me.

"Monique's boyfriend was just murdered! Don't you think that's kind of important for her to know?!" I practically screamed at him.

"I know. Nathan was a nice guy, and I'm just as pissed as you are." Tristan handed me another piece of ambrosia. "He's already dead Claire. You know he is. There's nothing we can do about it now."

"Two days," I muttered. He'd obviously been murdered during the dance, or shortly after judging by the sounds I'd heard in the vision.

"You won't be able to walk in a straight line for a while. I promise I'll let you go in ten minutes, but right now you have to sit."

"So," he continued. "We shared another vision..."

I folded my arms and looked away from him. He sighed and went to the other side of the room. If he'd gone into the back I could've snuck away, but he stayed in the room with me.

Five minutes passed like an eternity. Nothing happened except the occasional noises of drawers opening and closing again. Tape being ripped from the dispenser, shuffling feet in and out.

"Will you talk to me now?" Tristan asked after seven minutes had passed. I wasn't really in a talking mood, so I ignored him. "Fine, I'll talk to you," he continued.

"I think I figured things out. See, my great-grandma was Melinoe, the goddess of nightmares. And that's why we see visions together. I'm descended from nightmares, and you're descended from death, sort of. I think the visions themselves are triggered with eye contact. At lunch on Friday, today, just barely, we met eyes before we got the vision."

He seemed pretty proud of himself for figuring it out. He almost seemed to glow with excitement. Literally. I tried to ignore him, but my curiosity got the better of me.

"So why didn't we have a vision at the dance? We were both there."

"It confused me at first too, but I realized we never actually made eye contact. I was focused on my music most of the time, and you were busy going stag with the hunters of Diana." He chuckled to himself. "Stag. Hunters. Diana."

I shook my head. Ten minutes were up. "Bye!" I called over my shoulder as I stood and walked briskly out the door. Once I got outside I ran to the Zeus cabin through the gently falling snow. Tristan had been right, there was nothing we could do about Nathan's death. But he'd also been wrong. Monique needed to know what had happened NOW. With Nathan out of the way, Keiden would be eager to make another move.

I found Mo in her cabin eating cheesecake ice cream and crying. I paused. She was already so disheveled I didn't know if telling her about her boyfriend's death would be a good thing.

"What is it?" she asked. Her eyes were wide and desperate. "Tell me."

"Uh…" I began super eloquently.

"Claire! You have to tell me! What is it?" she asked, choking on her tears.

I sat down on the edge of her bed. I placed my hand on her shoulder to be comforting, but she just seemed awkward and frightened. "Nathan's dead," I said. I had planned on being nicer about it, but I wasn't sure what to say.

Her eyes widened in shock. She did that thing people do in movies where they shake their head slowly at first in confusion, then really hard as they go into denial. I'm not sure she was even aware she did it. Tears began pouring from her eyes in buckets, but at least she didn't call me a liar.

"He's in the woods. I don't know where, but it's by the river," I explained. I didn't want to tell her yet that he'd been murdered. I expected Monique to just fall on her bed and wail and moan, but instead she stood up and sprinted out of the cabin. I knew where she was going, but I didn't go to stop her. Instead I trudged to the head cabin.

I got there in time to see Annabeth sitting on the front porch, which was good. She's probably my favorite counselor here, and usually very busy, but if anyone can run a camp and take college courses online while being pregnant, it's Annabeth. She saw my gloomy look and asked what was up. I shook my head and nodded toward the door. I didn't have the strength in my voice yet to tell her what was going on and I was worried someone would overhear. She took the hint and led me to her office. We passed Percy and she paused to give him a kiss. I stood there awkwardly until they finally broke away from each other. I'm sure Percy thought I was in trouble. He shrugged at me knowingly.

Once Annabeth and I were alone I told her all about the vision. Up to this point, everyone had assumed my first vision at lunch was a seizure. I'd let them think that because I wasn't ready to tell everyone about this freaky vision thing going on. I was worried that everyone would be scared of me, think I was a freak, or have me try to solve murder mysteries. Basically, I was worried my life would become a TV drama. I asked Annabeth if our conversation could remain confidential. She thought about it for a moment.

"That depends," she explained. "We will have to hold Keiden in the detention center tonight and have a trial for him tomorrow. If things go smoothly, we will not need to mention your vision. However, we may need you to be a witness."

I inhaled sharply. I didn't want to tell everyone about my freaky powers, but if I needed to I would. I began to nod, but something occurred to me. "What about Tristan?" I asked.

"Tristan?" Annabeth repeated.

"He saw the visions too. Since he's an Apollo kid, it won't be so weird for him to tell people about it," I concluded.

Annabeth shook her head. "No. It has to be you who tells it. Tristan is the head of the infirmary right now. Obviously he will see the body before the trial. Then we wouldn't know if he just made up a story to go with the coronary report." I didn't think Tristan would do something like that, but I guess you can't always know who to trust.


	14. Keiden

**2/17/15**

Well, now everyone knows. Keiden is a good speaker when he wants to be and my witness did turn out to be necessary. At least Tristan had the decency to back me up so I wasn't completely on my own.

Monique ended up in the infirmary with hypothermia after passing out in the snow near Nathan's body. She wasn't at the trial, which is probably a good thing. I can't imagine what would've happened if she'd seen Keiden.

Keiden was banished from camp and the rest of his punishment will be decided by his dad. The whole trial was a little iffy, so that's the best we could do. I'm pretty sure his afterlife is going to seriously suck.


	15. Visions

**2/19/15**

Tristan was released from the duties of infirmary president today. The first thing he did was show up on my cabin doorstep, knocking loudly. At 6:00 AM. I stumbled to the door, still half asleep, and answered it. Tristan was staring at the door mat super intensely. It was still dark, but I could see him just fine, except his face, because it was turned down. I tried to bend over to see him, but he turned the other way. "I'm avoiding eye contact," he grumbled.

"Oh." It was still early and my mind was still fuzzy from sleep. Of course we needed to avoid eye contact. "You shouldn't have come so early. I'm not even dressed yet," I scolded. I slept in sweats and a t-shirt, but still.

"Sorry," He murmured.

"What do you want anyway?" I asked.

"Uh… I was going to teach you how to control visions," he mumbled awkwardly.

I was about to slam the door in his face, but I guess anger management classes are starting to get to me, because I thought about it for a second and realized that I might need his help (even though it was absurdly early). Tristan and I couldn't avoid eye contact forever.

"Come in," I consented. I made him wait in the entry hall while I changed into some jeans and my favorite black hoodie. We decided to practice in the forest so that we wouldn't get in trouble for being alone in a cabin in the dark.

"Alright. You're going to learn to control your visions." Tristan stated matter-of-factly. We stopped in a grove and sat on the ground, facing each other. We didn't look up to make eye contact though.

"First, when I somehow end up somewhere I wasn't before I know I'm in a vision, so I concentrate really hard to keep myself still. Usually I can sort of push myself out of it so I'm looking from a third-person point of view. A lot of demigods do that. But the visions we share are weird because they're memories, so you basically just have to act like it's a dream and focus on keeping your real body still." He concluded.

"That's it?" I asked. "You basically just told me to focus on keeping my body still. That's not even super helpful. You told me what to do, but not how to do it!"

"Uh, yeah. See, it's kinda different for everyone. Really the only thing you can do is concentrate. There's no specific technique," he apologized.

"Well, if that's the only thing you had to tell me you could have just said that on my porch. I'm leaving. Maybe I can still get some sleep," I growled. It was really inconsiderate to wake people up early, promise them advice, then do nothing. I stood up and turned back toward the cabins when Tristan suddenly stepped right in front of me. He looked straight into my eyes.

I was laying in a meadow of crunchy, yellow grass. A sharp pain pierced my side. I tried to scream, but only a hoarse cough came out. I reached down to my side and felt wet, stickiness. It was blood. I knew even before I could see it stuck to my palm. The wound was old, but still bleeding. I knew it would be fatal. I already felt weak. Why couldn't I have died hours ago when I was first stabbed? Instead, I had foolishly hoped someone would hear my plea for help.

 _But I've never been stabbed in the gut,_ I thought. _This is a vision. This is just like a dream._ And with that realization my consciousness and the memory seemed to separate. I focused until I felt myself, my real self, lying in the dirt and grass of the forest clearing. I held still and stopped muttering. Once I had my real self under control I looked back to the memory. I experienced the rest of it like a lucid dream.

Crazy, nonsensical thoughts swirled in my dream mind. Swords clashed and screams echoed through the sweltering, afternoon heat. Well, maybe. I didn't know if they were there anymore. Nothing seemed clear but the pain in my side. My limbs went numb until finally, my eyes drifted shut for a short nap.

My consciousness fully returned, and I realized where I was. Tristan stood over me with a stupid grin on his face. The jerk! I kicked at his leg. Tristan fell flat on his back, with the wind completely knocked out of him. When he could finally breathe again the first thing he did was yell at me. "What was that for?"

"Excuse me?" I wheezed. I still hadn't quite recovered. "You're the one who just popped up out of nowhere and forced me to have a vision!"

"Hey, I experienced it too!"

"Whatever. That's a stupid excuse. You have visions all the time."

"No I don't. Apollo's kids don't have visions as often as people seem to think."

We both laid on the ground for a moment in silence.

"So how'd you do?" Tristan inquired.

"I'm on the ground aren't I?" I sassed. "Actually, I figured it out. Not that you were a lot of help." I sat up, and since I didn't throw up I figured it was safe to walk. I stumbled a little. Tristan jumped up to steady me, but I jerked my elbow away from his grasp. I focused really hard and made it back to my cabin. I collapsed on the bed without changing back into my pajamas. My first Thursday class was advanced English, and it didn't start until 10:00. No, I'm not amazing at English. I'm better than most other demigods though because I don't have dyslexia.


	16. Deadly Nightshade

February 20, 2015

Today was interesting. We played capture the flag again. That girl Cadence that really screwed up the last game finally came out of hiding. Something about her is definitely off, but I don't know what it is. Yet.

I was a scout again this game. I guess people like to send me off into the woods by myself so I'm not there to scare them. Or something like that. Or maybe they think I can find the flag and sneak off with it without anyone noticing. I like it though. I don't engage in combat very often, but I like to scare people. I send out tendrils of shadow to swirl around unsuspecting demigods. They usually run screaming, but if they don't I radiate waves of fear and panic until they do. The best squealers are the Aphrodite kids. The Ares kids are fun too. They try to act brave, but in the end it just doesn't work out for them. And I can't get in trouble, because it's part of the game.

So I was the woods when suddenly Tristan jumped out in front of me. "I hate you," I muttered before my consciousness was sucked away.

It was dark. Thick, inky dark. I couldn't even see through the black. I sat on cold, hard stone. Water dripped somewhere off to my left. Sometimes I heard scurrying feet and scratches that might have been rats, but I couldn't be sure of anything in such complete darkness and isolation.

I pulled my consciousness from the vision and only barely managed to prevent my real self from falling over.

Pangs of hunger surged through my middle. My fingers and toes were numb. I shivered violently every once in awhile. I couldn't tell how I was going to die. It was a race between starving and freezing. I counted the lonely seconds passing in the dark cave, making a game of trying to fit the rhythm of my chattering teeth to the steady beat of the water drip.

After hours the shivering finally stopped. I knew that was the end. I've heard that once your body is too numb to send pain and cold signals to your brain, you're already dead. I couldn't feel my arms or legs. All my senses felt fuzzy and I just wanted to sleep. I slowly let myself sink to the ground. I couldn't sleep. Every time my eyes started to droop something would wake me again. A noise, a pain, or a random rush of adrenaline.

Shouldn't I have been able to go to sleep? It was supposed to be so easy once you got to that point. I just wished for death to come. I was tired of waiting. "Can I just die now?" I choked hoarsely to whatever god might be listening.

I heard a crack. The earth shook and rocks fell all around me. A large wedge of stone landed right on my chest. The pressure hurt, and it was getting worse by the minute. Finally the pain seemed to lessen as I got more numb from the cold.

With one last huff the world went dark.

I snapped back to reality so fast I was hardly able to register what had happened. Although it had been hours in the vision, only moments had passed in real life. I sat down heavily. Even though I hadn't fallen over, I was still weak. Tristan sat in front of me, just out of reach. Smart move.

"That was awesome," he exclaimed sarcastically. "Do you think next time could be less painful?"

"You're the one descended from Melinoe, the goddess of nightmares, not daydreams."

Tristan chuckled a little, but I hadn't meant it as a joke. We sat in silence for a moment before he continued. "You're getting a lot better."

"Gee, thanks."

"No. I mean it!" he complimented, flashing his signature dimpled, mischievous smile. "Also, I did not mean to run into you and have another vision."

"Really? Because it seems to me that you like having these memories," I retorted.

He flashed me another goofy, troublemaker smile. "Why not?"

I was feeling much better, so I sprang at Tristan. He deserved a couple of good punches and a smack or two for being such a jerk. He jumped up and met my fists with his palms. He was stronger than I'd expected. I kneed his stomach. He doubled over in pain.

"Why don't you tell me where your team flag is and we can just leave each other alone," I suggested.

"Not happening," Tristan replied. He pulled his sword out of its scabbard so fast I barely had time to react. I stumbled backward and only barely avoided getting a nasty cut. I grabbed my own sword and thrust it toward his shoulder. He blocked, but it still got grazed.

Tristan feinted high, but swiped low. Blood began to seep from a fresh wound on my calf. He was fast, and I was tired. Our duel continued for another couple of minutes. Neither of us did much but barely slice each other. We finally stopped when a horn signaled the end of the game.

"Let's just go to the infirmary," Tristan suggested. I rolled my eyes and nodded in agreement. He was in worse condition than I was, mostly. I couldn't open my mouth or blood from my nose would flow into it. Tristan gave me his team sash. I held the yellow fabric up to my nose to stop the blood. Finally, the blood became dry and caked, so I was able to stop covering my nose.

"You're probably the best fighter I've faced here so far," Tristan complimented.

"Thanks."

I was just hoping to avoid other people on our way to the infirmary. But of course, with my luck, we ran into Jayce and Amy. All four of us just stopped and glared at each other.

"You!" Tristan hissed, breaking the silence. I turned to see who his icy gaze was directed at. It was Jayce.

"Hey, don't hold a grudge for something that happened in the past," Jayce defended himself.

"What?" Amy demanded. "What did you do to Jayce?" She stepped in front of him all protectively and got up in Tristan's face. It was obvious she was interpreting the situation backwards.

"I'm not the one at fault here," Tristan shot back.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Why don't you ask him?"

Amy turned to Jayce. He hung his head in shame. Things were getting more interesting by the moment.

"I'm so sorry Amy. I just couldn't live like this anymore, seeing people's past and future," Jayce confessed.

"Woah woah woah," I interrupted. Comprehension rushed over me. I'd heard about this kid. He could see a person's memories just by touching them, and sometimes a glimpse of their future too. During the last game of capture the flag Jayce had grabbed my wrist and asked what was wrong with me. "You touched me during the last game. What did you see?"

Jayce shook his head. "What did you see?!" I demanded, pushing him against a tree. I felt Tristan's arms grab me and pull me back. Amy rushed in front of Jayce and gave me the nastiest glare I've ever seen. I responded in kind, then turned my attention back to Jayce. "Why did you ask what was wrong with me? What did you see?" I screamed. I don't know what I would've done to Jayce if Tristan wasn't holding me back. There are things I don't want anyone to know.

"Nothing," Jayce mumbled.

"LIAR!" I accused. "Tell me!"

"That's just it. I didn't see anything," Jayce admitted. Amy gave us both confused looks.

"Oh. That makes sense," Tristan said out of the blue. How on earth could that make sense?

"Claire naturally possesses the ability to share memories, so it makes sense that she could keep them repressed too," Tristan explained.

"Are you serious?! What the styx?!" I demanded.

"Yeah. That's why we don't see visions right after we've already had one. Your subconscious mind fights against it because you're too physically exhausted." Tristan glowed with excitement at his discovery.

"You jerk!" I yelled at him. "How was I supposed to know that? We didn't have to experience death so many times and you didn't even tell me!" I jumped at his throat, but he spun me around and held my arms behind my back.

"Woah. Calm down feisty," he teased. Then he grew serious. "I'm sorry. I've suspected this for a while, but I didn't want to tell you until I knew for sure."

"That's a stupid excuse," I chided. But I could have come to any number of those conclusions on my own. Again, I think anger management classes are starting to pay off.

Jayce's face fell. "I thought… nevermind. I was stupid."

"What?" Amy asked him. "Tell me what you did, please." She took his hand tenderly.

"When I grabbed Claire's wrist in the forest I knew it was a huge risk. Children of Hades seem pretty messed up to me. No offense. But I thought that if I could get the flag people would stop thinking negatively of me."

"Oh Jayce, that kind of thing doesn't matter to me." Amy went in for a kiss, but Jayce put his fingers over her lips.

"Let me finish," he pleaded. "When I touched Claire I didn't see anything. It confused me at first, but it was nice. You can't even understand. It was like for the first time in my life, I wouldn't have an instant, one-sided relationship with someone. I was foolish enough to hope that maybe there was something I could do to stop my powers." Jayce started to tremble. "But I guess I was wrong." Tears welled in his eyes, but he held them back. He wanted to be strong for Amy.

"Maybe not. Continue with your story," Tristan interjected. That was when I realized Tristan still had me in his arms.

"Can you let me go now?" I asked awkwardly.

"Oh. Uh… Are you going to try killing anyone?"

"No." I rolled my eyes at him. Tristan looked at me with suspicion, but let me go. I scooted to the side a few paces so I didn't have to look at him. I felt my cheeks turning red.

"Um… so I couldn't come up with a reason as to why I couldn't see Claire's past or future. Until I brushed up against an Apollo kid a couple weeks ago. I saw all of your secret experiments with belladonna."

"It was me wasn't it?" Tristan inquired.

"Yes. It was you," Jayce admitted.

"What's belladonna again?" I asked. Tristan and Jayce both gave me dumbfounded stares.

"You should know. You're the one delivering it to us, you know, deadly nightshade," Tristan stated.

"Uh… okay…" I have no clue what they're using it for, but I've been getting deadly nightshade for the Apollo kids for a little while. Of course I'm the one who has to get it because it is poisonous. "What are you doing with it?" I asked. "What is this 'secret experimentation?'"

Tristan sighed. "We've been trying to create a sort of super-hallucinogen. Belladonna causes natural hallucinations, but we've been trying to focus it so we could trigger visions that would be more vivid and accurate. So far we've been unsuccessful."

Jayce nodded like he already knew all of this. Which, I guess, he did.

"But while I was infirmary president I started working on my own experiments. If I could reverse the effects of the poison, I thought I could create an anti-hallucinogen to prevent visions," Tristan explained.

"I saw what Tristan was doing and I grew desperate to have the anti-hallucinogen," Jayce jumped back in. "I thought maybe I hadn't seen Claire's memories because of the belladonna she's been delivering. I was so desperate I didn't think things through. I assumed that meant they had some sort of functioning potion and I broke into the infirmary to get it," Jayce confessed. Amy gasped. She probably couldn't believe her perfect boyfriend might be anything but... perfect.

"I didn't get away with it."

"Nope," Tristan joined in. "I caught him rummaging through drawers in the back room and kicked him out. Jayce, now that you know what's really going on, I hope you don't plan on stealing again."

"Of course not."

"Okay, then you are free to enter the infirmary again. However, if you ever set foot in the back room…"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Jayce looked relieved. "No hard feelings then?"

"No hard feelings," Tristan agreed. "And when I'm successful in finding a way to prevent visions I promise you'll be the first person to get it." He sounded so confident it was hard to doubt him. It surprised me how easily boys could become friends. I glanced over at Amy. She still glared at me like everything was my fault. I sighed. It's not that I wish Amy and I were friends, but our feud is sort of childish.

"Let's go," Tristan said tugging on my sleeve. "Your nose is starting to bleed again." I groaned and held the bloody yellow rag to my face again. Tristan and Jayce said goodbye like they were old friends, and then we parted ways. Boys.

As soon as we entered the infirmary Tristan went into doctor mode. He sat me down and started inspecting my cuts. Finally one of his siblings came over and stopped him. It was April, actually. She made Tristan sit down on another mattress and checked us both for serious injuries. Luckily my nose isn't broken, just very bloody. Tristan and I didn't hurt each other much, so all we needed was a little neosporin and some ambrosia before we were free to go.

"So, I can stop the visions?" I inquired.

"Your subconscious seems capable of it. I don't see why couldn't learn to control that better and do it at will," Tristan explained.

"Yeah. Okay. Maybe I'll try later when I'm feeling better."  
"Good idea. Take it easy for a while," he instructed.

I snorted. Like that was happening.

Monique was in the infirmary, but she was still unconscious, so I didn't stay for a visit. A few other campers were there as well. That was normal for a capture the flag game. I didn't recognize anyone else.

Now I want to sleep. I'm so exhausted from the past few days. It doesn't help that I just stayed up past 1:00 writing all of this. If it doesn't make much sense I won't be surprised. I'm pretty sure half of my thoughts are incomprehensible this late at night.

*Sorry about the absence of chapters lately. I was moving and starting school and it was crazy. I will do my best to keep posting at least one chapter a week on Fridays. If you are enjoying the story, follow it and leave a comment. I would love some feedback. Thanks for reading!*


	17. Cadence

**February 21, 2015**

My hope of having a good night's rest didn't quite happen.

I was drifting off to sleep when I felt myself being pulled into a dream. I tried to shrug it off at first, but it was strong, dragging me somewhere unfamiliar. Ahead of me was a pool. I couldn't see what was going on at first, but it seemed that there was a lot of thrashing. I started to run toward the water, but the scene shifted. The world did a 360 and skipped forward in time, throwing me off-balance. I looked up to see a huge tree.

A monster had one woman in its claws and pushed another against a tree. It took me a moment, but I recognized her as Cadence, the unclaimed girl. The monster devoured the woman it held. Cadence managed to get free and dove into the water. The monster ran after her and ended up impaled somehow.

"Well that's kind of messed up," I said. Cadence spun around to see who had spoken. I swore and pushed myself out of the dream before she could realize I was there.

It seems like I only slept for an hour before I jerked awake. It was early, too early, but I couldn't get back to sleep. I wrote in my journal for a while, and now I'm going to go out for some Diet Coke.

I shadow travelled into town to buy some Diet Coke. I stocked up and decided to get some chocolate too. Then I thought I should get some rosin for my violin bow (I'm still learning how to take care of it), and some other stuff. When I finally got back to camp I went straight to my vault to drop off my stuff. Then I went to breakfast, where I heard some Aphrodite kids gossiping.

"Poor Cadence is in the infirmary!"

"I heard it's, like, super serious. She's in a comb. I mean, coma."

"It's that Justin guy's fault! He stabbed a big hole in her during capture the flag."

"He could've killed her! She's lucky to be alive."

I stopped listening to their chatter and ran to the infirmary. Sure enough, Cadence was lying on a bed unconscious. She looked feverish and muttered to herself, but she didn't have a gaping hole in her stomach. You never can trust Aphrodite kids. On an end table next to her bed was a vase of flowers and some fuzzy socks, which I thought was a little random.

I noticed Tristan talking urgently with one of his siblings near the back of the room. He noticed me too and I quickly turned my gaze away to avoid eye contact. I felt my consciousness slipping into a vision and pushed it away with some strain

"Claire!" Tristan shouted. He walked quickly toward me. The bags underneath his eyes were dark. He looked awful. "I've been looking EVERYWHERE for you! Where were you?"

"I… what?" He seemed disheveled and frantic. "It doesn't matter where I was. What do you want?"

"Fine. It doesn't matter," he agreed through gritted teeth. "I need you to look at some poison for me."

"Why?" I asked.

He gestured to Cadence. "We don't know exactly what happened, but somehow she was poisoned. Her blood is black and it's spreading quickly."

I grimaced. "Show me the poison." Tristan pulled a vial of black liquid from his lab coat pocket. I swirled it around between my fingers, the sticky substance clinging to the sides. Then I opened the stopper. It smelled funny, and gave me a dizzy feeling. It wasn't anything I recognized.

"Did you get this from her blood?" I asked.

Tristan nodded tiredly. "We managed to isolate the poison in a this concentrated dose, but we haven't been able to do much else.

"My guess is monster venom. Something powerful… Possibly hallucinogenic…" I started to tip the vial up to get a taste.

"Woah!" Tristan cried out. He grabbed my arm and lowered it. "Are you immune to monster venom?"

"Uh… well… If I know how it tastes I could give you more information."

"Don't risk your life if you aren't even sure you'd be immune," he chided.

"How do you know so much about my ability to tolerate poison anyway?" I inquired.

"Um… I read your medical file," Tristan admitted. My cheeks flushed red. "The infirmary presidents are required to read about their patients. But don't worry. We're also sworn to confidentiality."

"Oh." Great. Just another person knowing more about me than I want.

"Interesting allergy by the way," he teased.

I punched him in the arm. "Shut up."

"What? It's not _that_ weird for a child of Hades to be allergic to orange juice, the most cheerful drink on the planet," he taunted.

I groaned, pushing a hand against my face.

"Alright, I'm sorry. Can you tell me anything else about the poison?"

"Not without tasting it."

Tristan looked disappointed as he took the vial from my hand. "Thanks for your help. Are you sure there's nothing else I need to know? Maybe how long she has left to live?"

I thought about it for a moment, then grabbed the vial from Tristan and took another whiff. I was starting to get really dizzy, so I sat down. For a minute the world seemed to swirl and change colors. "This is pretty potent. She should already be dead. I think she found a way to hold off the effects. If we can't replicate that I would give her another hour max. Also, it's definitely a hallucinogen." I looked down at the little vial with disgust as it grew fur and squirmed. I gave it back to Tristan, rubbing the hallucination from my eyes. He resealed it and dropped it in his pocket.

"So, uh… I went into Cadence's dream last night." I started. "Well, really she dragged me into it. I think it might have been a hallucination caused by the poison, but it also could have been a memory. There was a creepy snakish monster there. Female. That could be the source of the poison if it's a memory."

Tristan scrunched his eyebrows and pursed his lips in an unattractive way. He suddenly perked up and shot me a bright, sunny smile. "You just gave me a brilliant idea!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just take care of your patient, doctor."

**Thanks for reading! Sorry this chapter was all weird and corrupted before. This story is a collaboration. You can read Monique's Journal by clicking the link.**


	18. A Quest

**February 22, 2015**

Annabeth called for a meeting with all of the counselors to discuss Cadence. She informed us that Jayce, that freaky kid with the eyes, had touched Cadence in order to find out what happened to her. Echidna. That's what happened. But somehow Cadence already knew how to cure the poison. Which makes me wonder why in Olympus she was hanging out at camp instead of off fixing her leg. Whatever.

I sat in my seat as the counsellor, and only resident, of the Hades/Pluto cabin. Monique was on my right. She'd only been released from the infirmary that morning.

Hestia entered with a warm, calming presence. A fire blazed up from a space in the middle of the table, like a donut from Tartarus. Even though she is the Patron supervisor person of camp, she isn't here often. She has other, goddessy stuff to do I guess.

Hestia began the meeting by looking meaningfully at everyone in the room. Her gaze made me fidget uncomfortably in my chair. "Welcome," she spoke in a gentle, but firm voice. "This meeting is to discuss what we must do for Cadence. You should all be aware by now, that she has been poisoned. Annabeth will explain her solution."

Annabeth stood up as Hestia sat down. She cleared her throat. "I propose a quest to retrieve the ingredients needed to make the antidote." People began whispering excitedly around the whole table. "Please, let me finish before you talk." The chatter hushed. "This is what we need."

Annabeth ticked off the ingredients on her fingers.

Chives, chewed to a pulp by a dragon.

Milkstone and milk

A few drops of the poison

Podophyllum Peltatum

What kind of random cure was this thing? Seriously? I figured at least I wouldn't have to go.

"Well, Claire?" Annabeth asked.

"What?" I looked up, embarrassed at how quickly I'd managed to zone out.

Annabeth sighed and gave me a fixed smile. "Will you lead the quest?" _Oh phlegethon! Of. Course._ "This quest will take you up to the Northwest, an area you know better than almost anyone here."

"Yeah," I conceded. At least I'll get out of camp and classes for a few days.

The rest of the meeting passed in a blur. Everyone argued over who should go on the quest and bla bla bla. Finally, the issue was settled when someone suggested asking for volunteers that night at the campfire.

I went to my cabin and packed some stuff into an old black and green backpack I found hiding in the corner of my closet. Finally the camp meeting came around. I shuffled reluctantly into the amphitheater and sat at the back next to Monique.

We started with a song from the Apollo cabin and a few announcements, but everyone was far too anxious to listen. Finally, Hestia's fire glowed brighter and she stepped up next to it. "Many of you have heard about Cadence. she was poisoned by Echidna and won't live much longer unless we get the cure. So we are asking for two volunteers to go on a quest to retrieve the ingredients necessary." Hestia's warm gaze travelled across the crowd.

An eager hand shot into the air and everyone turned to see who it was. When I finally caught sight of the volunteer through the mob of people, I groaned. It was Amy. Seriously? Amy wants to go on a quest like this?

"You are very brave." Hestia complimented. "This quest will be dangerous."

"Cadence helped me, now I'm going to help her. No matter how complicated or dangerous this quest is, I'm definitely going," Amy stated confidently. I really don't want to be stuck with this 'princess' for a minute, let alone a whole quest. But it's too late now.

"Very well. I will give you more details in the briefing. But be warned, this quest will be very difficult and dangerous. You are a loyal friend. You have my blessing."  
"Thank you Lady Hestia," Amy whispered full of reverence and awe. Total kiss up.

"Who will be the third volunteer?"  
There was some whispering and turning heads. Some demigods seemed eager to prove themselves, but nervous. Finally a voice spoke above the crowd. "I will go." The voice was quiet, but somehow echoed over the amphitheater and shushed all other noises. A blond-haired girl stood up. She appeared confident and powerful. The boy sitting next to her gaped in utter shock and confusion. Ryan, the ever-obnoxious, high-energy son of Hephaestus was stunned into silence.

Everything was quiet until Ryan started freaking out. "I volunteer! I wanna go!" He started jumping up and down on his bench with his hand in the air, looking slightly insane. No one paid him any attention, except Sadie. She made a small swishing motion with her left wrist. He sat down with a thump and a dazed expression. He looked up at her with puppy-dog eyes and she ignored him.

Hestia beckoned to Amy and Sadie. "Thank you Sadie, for volunteering. May the questers come forward please."

I walked to the middle of the amphitheater and stood with Amy and Sadie. I tried to smile, or look confident, or something other than incredibly uncomfortable and upset, but I doubt it worked.

Annabeth led the three of us off to the meeting house to debrief us. She motioned for us to sit down and gave me a small, handwritten list of the ingredients. She spread a map on the table.

"You can take some chives from the mess hall before you go. We already have the milkstone, milk, and some of the poison."

She pointed to a couple of red spots drawn on the map. "These are the locations of all the dragons I know of." I looked at the red spots. There were three. One in New York (guarding Camp Half-Blood), another in San Francisco, and the last was in the middle of nowhere. Kansas or Nebraska? The map didn't label the states, only showed the borders.

Sadie looked very official as she pointed at the map, asked questions, and made plans. I might technically be in charge of this quest, but I'm fine if Sadie wants to kind of take over all the planning stuff.

Finally we were excused to go join the rest of the campers in the amphitheater. Percy was telling one of his famous quest stories, but I didn't feel like listening. I trudged back to my cabin and laid down, trying to get some sleep. When that proved useless I went through a quick mental checklist of things I would need.

Clothes: check.

sword: Duh.

Bow and arrows: Still need to get that back from the Hephaestus cabin. I'm sure they've finished the modifications by now...

Drachmas: In the vault.

Map: Oh Lethe! Where did I put that…

Ingredients List: … Oh! Crumpled in my pocket.

American money: Couple 20's should be enough.

Food: A couple kitkats. Nutritious... I'll grab something from the mess hall in the morning.

Water: Maybe I should get a new bottle...

Ambrosia: ?

First-aid: ?

I groaned and slid off the end of my bed. Then I casually wandered over to the infirmary. That's the best place to get medical stuff. Right? The campfire was still raging. I swear. It's not even summer. Why do the bonfires go so late?

I stepped into the dim, empty infirmary. "Uh… Hi?" I called out. I couldn't see anyone. I stepped quietly to the purple curtain that separates the main room from the back. It seemed to sway invitingly, daring me to look. With no one there to stop me, it was the perfect opportunity to finally see the Apollo kids' mysterious secret lair.

Behind the curtain I found a room of cluttered papers, books, plants, test tubes, and other random things. I stepped inside and let out the breath I'd been holding. A table in the center of the room seemed to be the worst of the mess. It had books stacked so high on one end, I couldn't see anything on the other. I walked around the massive table to find… Tristan.

I jumped, but he didn't react to me being there at all. He was asleep on the stack of papers he had been reading. I relaxed. I almost reached out to wake him, but stopped just before my hand reached his shoulder. I needed to wake him up, so I could get ambrosia for my quest, but for some reason my hand didn't move.

I found myself looking at the lines his labcoat sleeve was leaving on his cheek whenever he changed position. His chin pulled in just a little while he slept, making his lips pucker ever so slightly. He had a little bit of dark stubble on his cheeks and some of his hair stood on end. He looked like a cross between a mad scientist and some sort of model. Ew. I can't believe I just wrote that.

I decided to give Tristan just a little more sleep before I interrupted, hoping maybe he'd just wake up on his own and spare me the trouble. I glanced down at the notes he was resting on. They involved a lot of nonsensical scribbles, but something caught my eye. Belladonna. It was his formula for the prophecy-inducing potion. I noticed a little dagger drawn hastily on the side. The same blade was placed on the table a little ways from Tristan's left hand. No. Not a dagger. A… tooth? It had some sort of black liquid oozing from the tip. It reminded me of the stuff Cadence had been poisoned with. On a whim, I picked up the fang and sniffed at it.

I felt instantly dizzy. I stumbled back over a book, and fell backward to the floor, knocking down a stack of books on top of myself as I tried to grab onto something. I groaned, pushing myself up on my hands.

Tristan jumped up, eyes wide. He saw me picking up books and relaxed a bit. He came to help me, rubbing under his eye groggily.

"Same stuff that poisoned Cadence?" he asked, noticing the fang in my hand.

"Definitely," I responded. My vision started to cloud over, but I pushed against the memory that was trying to surface. It felt a little like throwing up in your mouth, and then swallowing it again.

"Did you need something?"

"Oh. Yeah. I need some ambrosia."

Tristan's smile disappeared and his brows furrowed. "Why do you need ambrosia? Are you hurt?" His eyes scanned me quickly for any sign of injury.

"No. I need some for my quest," I stated.

"What quest?" Tristan asked. He hadn't gone to the campfire because he was on duty tonight.

"I'm going on a quest to get the ingredients for Cadence's cure," I explained. I was feeling a little weird at that point, and just wishing Tristan would give me some ambrosia and let me leave.

"Oh that's right. I think I'm still a little fuzzy from sleep. April told me there would be a quest for Cadence's cure. I didn't know you were going though." Tristan stood up and walked into the main room of the infirmary. I stepped over some random junk and followed him. "You'll probably need some other stuff too. Bandages, burn ointment, neosporin, the basics…" He started digging through drawers to find the items he thought were necessary in a first aid kit. I didn't really see why most of these things were important, but whatever. "You don't need an epipen do you?" he joked. "Can you stay away from orange juice for a while?"

"I think I'll manage," I assured him sarcastically.

He stopped and looked at me thoughtfully, with his pointer finger tapping his chin. "I don't know… you look pretty mischievous. I can imagine you stopping at an IHOP for orange juice just to spite me." He gave me his signature grin, and I couldn't help but smile back just a little.

"Ok. I promise not to drink any orange juice." I mean really. The orange juice allergy isn't that big a deal. If he could just stop bringing it up that would be great.

Tristan gave me one more suspicious look and a grin before rushing off to finish filling the gallon-size ziploc bag with first-aid supplies. After a minute he sealed the bag tight, and handed it to me. It was almost bursting with interesting things. "Some of that's for you, some of it's for the other questers. Who's going, by the way?"

"Amy and Sadie," I told him glumly.

"Oh. Um… You and Amy won't kill each other right? That would make my job a lot harder, so…"

"No. Trust me, if we got into a fight there would only be one casualty and it wouldn't be me," I said solemnly. Tristan looked panicked, but I quickly flashed him a smile. "Lighten up. I won't kill Amy." Maybe, I added in my head.

He sighed in relief, but still seemed to be slightly concerned. "Thanks for the kit. Bye," I said. I stepped out into the chilly night air and something occurred to me. I spun back toward the infirmary so fast I almost fell on top of Tristan, catching myself at the last second.

"Um," I started, my cheeks reddening. "Do you have notes on where to find rare herbs in that little library of yours?"

"Maybe. What are you looking for?"

"Podophyllum peltatum," I read off the paper.

Tristan swept to the backroom, searching in the piles of books and papers. "Here!" He said. "Medicinal plants indigenous to North America. At least I assume it's in North America." He flipped through the index and found the page on podophyllum peltatum. "Commonly called mayapple… roots… catharsis… Native Americans… Okay. It looks like it's commonly found in the north-eastern US and prefers shade and moisture. I would suggest Maine or New York."

"New York. Looks like I'll be visiting Camp Half-Blood then."

"You'll need the roots, but the rest of the plant is pretty much useless. Wait… the footnote mentions Stillwater, New York. There was a battle there during the Revolutionary War. The place has a lot of mayapple."

"Got it. Thanks!" I said, stepping out of the infirmary and heading toward home.

I was a few yards away when Tristan called out to me. "Bye Claire! Good luck! Please don't hurt yourself. Or anyone else. Unless they're trying to hurt you. Then it's okay. Just... be safe."

I waved my hand casually over my shoulder to let him know I'd heard, and that I'd be fine.

** I gave up on publishing this story for a while, although I kept tinkering with it. I don't want to make any promises that I will upload regularly from now on, because I'm not sure I could keep that promise. I will try my best though. I love writing and I don't want to give it up. Thank you for reading.**


	19. A Prophecy From the Redhead

**February 23, 2015**

There's this tradition of getting a prophecy before going on a quest. So naturally I had to wake up at an ungodly hour to get one. Since Camp Parthenon doesn't have an oracle yet, I had to Iris message Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I crept down to the bank of one of the rivers bordering camp. Light morning mist rose up on the bank, perfect for sending an IM.

"Hey Claire," Rachel said rubbing sleep from her eyes. She was in a small, cluttered dorm room. Posters hung all over the walls. Some were Rachel's art, some were posters for things she liked, and a couple were just flyers for old marches and protests. "Do you need something?"

"Yeah, I need a prophecy," I mumbled.

"Oh." Rachel's eyes widened. "You're going on a quest? That's great. It's been so long. I didn't think you would want to after…"

"Yeah. Can I just have the prophecy?" I interrupted. Rachel talks about a million miles an hour, and it was too early to wait for her to finish.

"Uh, yeah. Um…" Rachel shifted back and forth on her feet. Suddenly her eyes began to glow unnaturally and she spoke in a voice that seemed to echo from nowhere.

A daughter of the sea awaits relief,

To be found from the legacy of Akhlys' grief.

For a poison flower, the valley run,

Which twice was endured before the victory won.

The dragon's breath must one withstand,

Who has carried fire in their hand.

One week from the moon's birth,

Will Poseidon's child rest beneath the earth.

Rachel settled back into herself. "Well, good luck. I'm going to go back to sleep." Prophesying seemed to take a lot out of her.

"Yeah, okay." I wrote down the prophecy on a piece of scrap paper I had brought with me and waved my hand through the mist to dispel the illusion.

Sadie and Amy just arrived at our meeting spot near the border of camp. I'll write more later.


	20. Public Transportation is a Bad Idea

**February 23, 2015 Again**

I've been stuck with Miss Princess for about… 5 hours and I already want to kill her. She hasn't stopped babbling since we left camp. I don't even know what she's talking about anymore. At the rate she's going, she should have passed out from lack of oxygen.

I could shadow travel and have the whole quest done by dinner time. But of course there's the whole "three to a quest" thing. And nothing can ever be easy. And the time Nico almost dissolved into nothing made the camp counselors nervous and way too strict.

Amy's also writing in her journal. She keeps looking at me, then scribbling in her journal in a rushed, panicked sort of way. It's like she thinks I'm going to kill her. I'm not actually as scary as I seem. Geez. I cut her hair once. Big deal. It grew back practically overnight.

It should only be another mile or so to the bus station. Maybe we'll get lucky and a monster will eat Amy on our way there.

No monsters yet. We boarded the bus without incident. Once we were on board, Sadie reminded me I hadn't told them the prophecy yet. I handed her and Amy the scrap of paper and enjoyed the moment of silence while they read it.

"Akhlys is the goddess of poison, right?" Sadie clarified.

"Something like that," I confirmed.  
"I guess that makes a little sense then. But Akhlys' grief? Shouldn't she be happy someone was poisoned?"

"I don't know. It's a prophecy. I guess it just had to rhyme."

"Wait," Amy said. "What does this part at the end mean? 'One week from the moon's birth, Will Poseidon's child rest beneath the earth.' Does that mean Cadence is going to die?" Her lip began to tremble.

Yeah, Cadence is Poseidon's daughter, by the way. I might have forgotten to mention that. Jayce found out when he saw all her memories. I guess it's kind of a big deal or whatever. But I've been kind of busy, so writing about it didn't even occur to me.

"Not necessarily…" Sadie mused. "It could be a deadline. The moon's birth probably refers to the new moon. That was… last Thursday. Today is Monday, so we have about three and a half days."

"Until what?" Amy whispered.

"Until it's too late," I answered shortly, leaning back against the bus seat.

Sadie scowled at me. "Maybe. Prophecies have a lot of meanings, so we can't be sure that's what it means," she reassured Amy. "We might be able to use some of this to our advantage though." A ball of fire burst to life in Sadie's palm. "I'll deal with the dragon once we find it."

Amy seemed a little more relaxed. "Right. Three powerful demigods. We've got this. What can go wrong?"

So yeah, never say 'what can go wrong' if you don't have a death wish.

"Something's wrong with the mist," Sadie whispered when the bus came to a stop. As a daughter of Hecate she's sensitive to the way it moves and distorts reality.

"What do you mean? How can something be wrong with the mist?" Amy wondered.

"Probably monsters," I snapped.

"No way!" Amy protested. "We're on a bus. You have to have a bus pass to get on. How in the world could a monster get a bus pass?"

"Good point. How _did_ you get one?" I inquired. I snickered under my breath at the double meaning. I'm not sure she got it.

"Easy, I went to the bus station, filled out a form, paid, and got the pass," Amy explained flatly.

"Then why couldn't a monster do the same thing?"

"I don't know what's going on!" Sadie interrupted. "All I know is, something is wrong with the mist, so it's probably a monster. And if you two don't shut up, we'll be in serious trouble. Just… let me concentrate."

"Okay. Maybe we should get off at the next stop." Amy suggested, glancing nervously at the bus doors slammed shut behind the last new passengers.

"Can you hide us in the mist?" I asked Sadie. "My aunt Helen was a priestess of Hecate. That's how she kept me safe for so many years."

"I can try…" Sadie conceded. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples in concentration.

"Guys, there's a group of... fat guys making their way toward us!" Amy whisper-shouted.

"Oh no! Not fat people!" I chided, rolling my eyes.

"No, seriously! I can see their swords!" Amy squeaked.

"Shut up! I need to concentrate!" Sadie snapped.

"They're… They're... sniffing for us?" Amy stammered.

I looked up and saw some really weird looking men who almost seemed to shimmer into something else I couldn't quite get a good look at. I gripped my sword tighter where it was half-concealed behind my backpack on the floor. "I see them too. What's our plan?"

"I don't know. Let me see if I have something that could help." Amy suggested, searching through the cluttered mess of her backpack.

"Eesh! Did you bring your entire cabin in there?" I snapped.

"No! Of course not! I left my hair dryer... I only brought anything that might be useful." Amy declared.

I snorted. Even if Amy did bring important supplies, I'm sure she still has enough makeup for a stage production of Cats.

"Mmm…. What iz on zee menu boss?" a pinched voice asked. Amy and I looked up to see the three guys standing in front of us. Their forms flickered between human and… ugliness. They were big, about 8 feet tall, with flippers and dog faces. Their forms settled on seal-of-death.

"You two couldn't put your stupid feud on the back burner for two minutes?!" Sadie scolded us. I shrugged and tightened my grip on my sword.

The one on the left held up his weapon, which was a cross between a sword and a spear. The tip landed an inch from Amy's nose. "How about demigod shi..."

"Aw Styx," I interrupted. "If you say shish kabob I'm gonna lose it. At least come up with something I haven't heard a million times."

Amy thrust her dagger upward, knocking the monster's blade away from her face. I hadn't even seen her grab it.

I growled, lunging toward the middle monster. I stabbed its enormous belly with my stygian iron sword. The creature gave me a startled look, then dissolved into the blade. The bus driver seemed not to notice as he pulled over at the next stop like he normally would. I threw a quick glance at Sadie who was busy thickening the mist around us. One of the young passengers, a small boy probably no more than 6 stared in awe at the scene.

"Mommy!" he started wailing. "That scary lady stabbed a guy, and he disappeared!"

"That's nice," his mother replied absentmindedly, as she looked at her phone. "Do you need another rice krispy?"

"That would be nice," Sadie commented, manipulating the mist to let the woman see what was happening. "In the meantime, you should take your demigod son off the bus full of monsters." The woman looked up at Sadie with a startled expression, blinked twice, then grabbed her son and got off the bus like it was on fire.

"Guys? What do we do?" Amy screamed.

"Get off the bus!" I yelled back. We shoved past the remaining two monsters, and dove off the bus.

"And you thought monsters would never get on a bus," I panted at Amy.

"I'm new to this demigod stuff! I've only known for, like, less than two months!" Amy explained through labored breaths.

The grotesque creatures pushed their way off the bus just before it pulled away from the stop.

"Oh my gosh! I've read about these guys!" Amy gasped. "They're telekhines! Percy fought them in The Battle of the Labyrinth!"

She seriously read those books?

"It is nice to be recognized," one of the creatures rasped. "Now, DIE!"

"How about not!" I shouted. I dove forward into the creature's shadow, disappearing.

"What in Hades? Where did she go?" Amy exclaimed.

I reappeared behind the telekhines and gave one of them a nasty gash, but unfortunately not enough to kill it.

Amy rushed in and drove her dagger into the cut. The monster died, and we turned to face the last one, only to see Sadie standing over its ashes with a ball of fire in hand. "Well, that wasn't so bad. Who votes we go on foot from here?"

"ME!" Amy shouted, raising her dagger in agreement. I nodded enthusiastically, then sat down on a bench, exhausted. The adrenaline rush was wearing off.

"Is anyone hurt?" Amy inquired digging through her backpack for ambrosia.

"ME!" A familiar voice shouted. I groaned. We all turned to see Ryan rushing toward us.

"Ryan?" Amy marveled. He eagerly reached for the bag of ambrosia she held.

Sadie sighed. "Ryan… can't I leave you alone for five minutes?! How did you even get here?"

"Where are you hurt?" Amy asked.

"I've… got… here!" He held up his finger and waved it around so frantically that it was hard to see exactly what he was indicating.

"Ryan, I can't help you if you won't let me see what's wrong!" Amy scolded.

Ryan grabbed his pointer finger and held onto it really tight. "OW! It hurts!"

"Dude... I couldn't even see anything." Amy chided.

"Ignore him. Ryan likes ambrosia a little too much." Sadie smacked Ryan's wandering hand away from the bag of ambrosia.

"Aaah. That explains a lot. He's the one who gave it to me... I wondered how he got it." Amy mused. I sighed.

Sadie's eyes grew wide. "You were willing to give up your secret stash of ambrosia? I thought I'd have to report it to one of the counselors."

"Relax. It was only one bag," Ryan assured. Sadie narrowed her eyes, probably wondering just how much more he was hiding.

"Wow. That's... interesting..." Amy mused.

"Yep, I'm a pretty interesting guy." Ryan flexed his muscles (or lack of) and leaned against a street light. Amy giggled. Really?

Sadie pinched the bridge of her nose. "What are you doing here Ryan?"

"Well, I thought you would need some extra muscle."

"Not if it's yours." I figured I'd probably have to be the one to take him back to camp, since I'm technically in charge.

"Claire, that's rude!" Amy scolded.

"Girls, girls, calm down. You know you're glad I'm here." Ryan puffed out his chest and stood in a classic superhero stance, looking out to the distance.

"SHUT UP!" Sadie and I shouted in unison. Ryan was really irritating me.

"Come on everyone, let's just try to calm down and talk about this. Without shouting," Amy persuaded. Actually, I think she might have used charmspeak.

"Wow, you're really pretty when you try to solve problems." Ryan's elbow missed the light pole he tried to lean against and he almost fell on his face. At the last moment he threw out his hands and caught himself. Then he started doing push ups. "I forgot! I only did four hundred today. I usually do five hundred," he lied. He got back up and brushed his hands on his pants, which didn't do much for the soot stains. "Oh well, I'll do them later."

"We really need to leave," Sadie declared, shaking her head.

"Alright team Holt, let's go!" He started marching off and Sadie grabbed his shoulder.

"Ryan, you're going back to camp," she told him. "And also, that's the wrong way." I stood up, ready to make him leave.

"What? I knew that. I was… going to..."

"You do really need to go back to camp. You could get in a lot of trouble," Amy advised.

"Nah. They love me at camp!" Ryan begged. He realized that excuse didn't work and quickly changed tactics. He dropped to his knees and started forcing out tears. I think he might have been looking at the sun. "Aw come on! Pleeeeeeaaase don't make me go back. I'll do anything! I'll upgrade your phone, I'll build you a transforming pillow, I'll cook you a gourmet steak dinner!" He winked at Amy as he said the last one. He's so ridiculous.

"I don't have a phone, I already have a pillow, and no." Amy answered.

"He'll probably burn it anyway." Sadie said.

"What? The steak, the phone, or the pillow?" Amy wondered.

"All of them," Sadie answered. I snickered.

"Hey! I can control when I burst into flames!" His foot suddenly caught on fire. Amy squeaked, and he stamped it out, revealing half a black shoe. "I can control it most of the time. That only happens when I'm around cute girls." He winked at Amy, trying to turn the fumble into a flirtatious comment, but it didn't seem to work.

"You're around me all the time," Sadie warned. Electricity sparked in her eyes and a mini tornado started spinning around her feet. She didn't really seem angry though.

"Right! I just learned to control the fire, because it gets too deadly and huge and all. Because you're so cute," Ryan mumbled quickly.

"Whatever, I'll spare your life... this time." Sadie lowered to the ground and calmed the growing storm. I don't know what their friendship is, but it's weird.

"I have a Famous Footwear gift card..." Amy suggested, pointing to his ruined shoe.

"No," I snapped. "We are not going shoe shopping on a quest! Ryan, how did you even get here?"

"I souped up a chariot!" Ryan exclaimed. "I added a lawn mower engine I found in the Hephaestus cabin and then I connected the wires with…"

"I don't care. Where is your chariot? Could it fit all four of us?" I asked.

"Sure thing! Follow me ladies."

"Wait," Amy objected. "Is this a good idea?"

"Would you rather take the bus?" I asked her.

Amy shuddered "Well, no, but…"

"Well we need to get moving quickly."

"We don't have a lot of time," Sadie agreed. "Ryan may not be very… smart, but his inventions usually work."

"Hey," Ryan whined.

"Okay," Amy sighed. "I call shotgun?"

Ryan's chariot did not have a 'shotgun,' or any seats at all. We were barely able to fit the four of us standing. We sped toward the east coast at a breakneck speed, not stopping until the sun began to set.

We're camping somewhere in western Kansas, which is basically a big cornfield. I took first watch, but it's Sadie's turn now. Hopefully we don't all die tomorrow.


	21. From Chariots to Trucks

**February 24, 2015**

Somehow we made it the whole night without dying or being attacked. It's kind of a miracle considering Ryan was on watch and playing with the fire when I woke up. He noticed me watching him and dropped his ball of fire on a patch of grass near his already burnt shoe. Ryan squealed and tried to pat it out with his hands. This woke up Sadie and Amy who came running over. Amy dumped a bunch of white powder onto the fire, snuffing it out quickly.

"Wow. You're so brave," Ryan complimented. He was covered in the white powder.

Amy blushed. "It's just baking powder. It has a lot of surprising uses."

"Brave, smart, and haw… beautiful. You're so amazing." Ryan's eyes were glazed with admiration. Amy tucked some hair behind her ear and looked away awkwardly.

Sadie cleared her throat. "We should get going. It's still a long way to New York." Irritation bubbled under her words, barely concealed.

Hours of bumpy chariot riding seemed to stretch on and blur into a mind-numbing blankness. Suddenly the chariot screeched to a stop sending us all flying through the air in a jumble. The chariot jerked back and forth, spinning in circles before breaking down in a smoking heap.

"No! Raptosaurus X! I should have added more methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl!" Ryan wailed, kneeling over the wreckage. He picked up an axle and clutched it to his chest. Sadie put a hand on his shoulder.

It seemed to be mid-afternoon. I had no idea where we were.

"This really sucks," Amy whined. I agreed with her, but I wasn't about to admit it.

I started walking east. Amy and Sadie began to follow me.

"Wait!" Ryan cried. "I can fix it!"

Something exploded. Ryan flew directly into Amy, knocking them both over. They lay in a groaning heap. Ryan's clothes were blackened and torn to shreds.

Sadie pinched out a fire burning on Ryan's head. "I think we'll need to use your coupons, Amy."

We found civilization after only 30 minutes. It took another 15 minutes to find a Walmart. Ryan and Amy went to look for clothes, leaving Sadie and I to sit outside. I fell asleep on the grass. It felt like I'd barely closed my eyes before Sadie was shaking me awake.

"So what now?" Amy asked. "Do we keep walking? I asked someone inside and we're in Western Pennsylvania."

"We don't have a lot of other options," Sadie mused. Her face suddenly brightened. "What if we got a ride?"

"This place has a population of 20. Who are we supposed to get a ride from?" I snarked.

"That semi over there at the gas station."

"Yeah, not a good idea. A surprising amount of truck drivers are monsters."

"I know that," Sadie protested. "But I think we could stow away without being noticed. I think I can obscure us in the mist for a little while. We just need to find a truck going east."

I looked at her doubtfully. She would have to conceal four demigods from right behind a monster. I know that my scent alone could get us discovered and killed. Lucky me. But if I weren't with them…

"Okay," I told Sadie. "Let's find a truck."

We found an empty semi with a map on the front seat. Somewhere in New York was highlighted. It was old fashioned, making me sure the driver was a monster. Or maybe one of the gods is interfering in our quest.

"Are we sure about this?" Amy asked, echoing my own concern.

"We need to get to New York quickly. Let's get in the back before the driver comes back." Sadie ran around to the rear of the truck, the rest of us following. The large door was padlocked shut.

"Ryan, can you…"

"Oh yeah," Ryan said, slapping some sort of device over the lock. It whirred and clicked then spat the lock into Ryan's hand. He thrust open the door, waving us inside the empty back of the truck. It seemed to be returning to whatever company it belonged to. I stayed where I was, keeping a wary eye out for the driver.

"Aren't you coming?" Sadie hissed.

I shook my head. "No way. You have a better chance of going unnoticed without me. I have my own way of travelling. If we get separated, iris message me." I placed a drachma in Sadie's palm. She looked at me for a second and nodded.

I slammed the door shut and ran to hide behind a black car parked nearby. The driver came up to his truck and paused before getting in. He started sniffing the air. Definitely a monster. That is not a human behavior. Although he was a truck driver…

He walked in a slow circle around the truck. My ADHD was making me squirm like crazy. I rapidly jumped through the shadows surrounding the gas station. Landing back behind the car, I looked up to see the driver standing still, stunned to stupidity.

He shook his head slowly as if waking up from a trance, and settled his eyes on the ground. I followed his gaze.

"Styx," I cursed.

The monster scooped the padlock from the ground, scratching his head with a tentacle. He yanked open the door, but nothing was inside. My stomach dropped before I realized what was happening. Sadie was hiding them in the mist. I let a small smile escape.

After an intense moment, the truck driver shrugged and closed the door. He locked it. I frowned. Just one more problem to deal with later.

The sun had set long before the truck pulled off the highway in New York. It parked in some sort of lot with about a million other semis. I'd managed to keep up with it by using a series of short jumps that left me exhausted. I took a sip of nectar, and feeling only a little more refreshed, snuck up behind the idling semi. I drew my sword Akantha, and swung at the padlock. It fell to the ground, a wispy tendril of cold rising from where the blade had cracked it in two.

"Hey!" The angry driver yelled, waving his tentacle . I dove forward, driving Akantha directly through his chest. He looked at me with wide eyes, and promptly dissolved into the black blade.

"Aw man," Ryan whined. "I didn't even get a chance!"

I rolled my eyes at him. He and the girls got out of the semi.

"Come on. We better get out of here. Who knows how many other monsters could be lurking about disguised as monsters."

We sprinted off into the woods a good distance and stopped to set up camp when Sadie told us the mist felt normal.

Sadie looked up at the moon. "Two more days," she said ominously.

**Thanks for reading. From now on my regular chapter updates will happen Saturday night. Also, check out **Monique's Journal** if you want her perspective. It's pretty cool. :)**


	22. Tristan's Nightmare

**February 24, 2015**

After all the shadow travelling around Pennsylvania and New York, I was exhausted. One big jump would have been less effort than all the small jumps I had to make to keep up with the semi truck. I collapsed the minute we set up camp.

As I fell into sleep I felt someone calling out to me. It wasn't a voice exactly, but more like a presence or something. Like when you know you're being watched or that someone is standing behind you. Whatever it was felt familiar, but I didn't have a name for it. I tried calling back. It's a little weird to describe it. The connection grew stronger, flaring to urgency. I pushed my will in that direction, finally falling into a dream.

. . .

I looked around to find myself standing on an empty stage in near darkness. The only light came from the back of the audience where I guessed the tech booth would be. There were rows of seats going back further than I could see. I turned around, looking backstage. It was empty, completely empty. No props, set pieces, costumes, or anything. The whole theater had a muted gray tone, except the stage curtains. They hung heavy, and velvety, and deep forest green. I gently brushed my fingertips across the soft material. I drew back with a hiss. My hand stung as though I'd touched fire.

I stepped to the edge of the stage, glaring through the white light at the audience. "Hello? Whose dream is this?" I called out. The sound carried across empty space. Silence was my response. An anxious tingle crept down my spine.

I was about to speak again when I heard footsteps. I spun away from the audience and saw Tristan standing at center stage. He was looking at something in the audience that I couldn't see. "Tristan? Did you bring me here?" I approached slowly, trying to find what he was looking at.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, still staring at the empty theater in a trance-like state. "I didn't mean to bring you… here exactly. I was just thinking about... I needed to talk to you."

He winced and shook his head, trying to focus more clearly on me. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Yeah, I'm not dead yet," I agreed. "Did you need something?"

"I… well… I'm worried about… I mean… Cadence isn't doing very well. I'm doing what I can, but she's fading fast," he explained.

"How much time does she have left?" I asked him.

"Water seems to help, but even then… I don't think she'll make it past the end of the week," he informed me gravely.

I nodded. The timing lines up. Tristan looked back at the seats, like he was still looking for something. "Tristan?" I whispered, startling him. "Where are we?"

"A… dream."

"This isn't a dream," I realized. "It's a nightmare. You've had this one before haven't you? What's going to happen? What are you looking for?"

Tristan gulped. I finally saw what he was looking for. The silhouette of a man was walking down one of the aisles between the audience seats. Tristan paled. He wrung his hands together, rubbing his left wrist.

He turned toward me with an intense gaze. "Claire, you should leave. I'm glad you're okay. I'm sorry for bringing you here." The man got closer and I could make out some of his features. He had a gaunt, sallow face and greasy blond hair. He wore a Roman toga and a permanent sneer.

"I'm not going to leave you alone with that creep."

"Please," Tristan begged. His voice was hoarse. "Just leave." He gripped his wrist tighter.

I've never seen him like that. "Tristan?" I reached out to inspect his wrist. It burned.. Tristan quickly pulled back.

"I'm fine. Leave!" Tristan demanded through gritted teeth. I felt myself being pushed from his dream.

"Fine. Have it your way," I snapped. Then I let go of my hold on the dream. As my consciousness slipped away I thought I saw the creepy guy stab something small and furry in his other hand.

. . .

I woke up with a gasp. I shivered in the cold February air. I'm not usually bothered by a little bit of chill. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep again, so I took over watch. Amy seemed grateful to snuggle into her sleeping bag and curl up by the fire.

I hope Cadence can hold on just a little longer.

**Thanks for reading! Claire's Camp Journal updates on Saturday nights. Monique's Journal updates on Tuesdays. Tristan's Camp Journal updates on Mondays. Please leave your thoughts in a comment below. We would love to hear from you. :)**


	23. Marathon

****February 25, 2015****

After waking up from Tristan's nightmare, I kept watch for a while. Eventually my exhaustion got to the point where I had to let Sadie take over. When Amy shook my shoulder to wake me up in the morning I kicked her. I'm going to pretend it was because I was still half asleep.

I've never really liked staying in one place for too long. Sometimes I just had to get out of Camp Half-Blood. The short version is that I'm very familiar with rural New York.

So after a quick breakfast of granola bars we trekked east. Tristan's book had listed a few known locations of mayapple. I figured we would run into some fairly soon. Another hour of walking took us to the edge of a wide valley.

At the bottom of the hill was an odd figure. As we got closer, I could make out more of his features. He was extremely thin and lanky. He crouched with his hands gripping his knees, panting. Something seemed strange.

"Are you okay?" Asked Amy.

The stick man stood up and turned around with a broad grin across his face. "Oh, I am fine. Just resting between laps."

"Uh... you were running across the valley?"

"Of course."

"Uh, okay." Amy smiled kindly at him. "If you're familiar with the valley, we are looking for mayapple. Do you know where we could find some?"

"Why yes. There is a nice little patch east of here."

"Great. Thank you for your help sir."

"Race you there!" He shouted, bolting away from us. We stood still in confusion.

Sadie began running first. "Come on guys. He's leading us to the mayapple."

Our luck seemed too good to be true. The whole situation: running into a random guy, in the middle of nowhere, who knew exactly what we needed and where to find it… was uncanny. We sprinted to catch up.

After what felt like an hour of hard running, our group began to fall behind. The guy didn't seem to notice, keeping up his incredible speed. Demigods are usually faster and stronger than regular mortals, but we looked pathetic next to him.

"Wait!" someone gasped.

He turned back and saw how exhausted we all looked. He began running in circles around us and laughing hysterically. He hadn't even broken a sweat. There was no way he was human.

He began taunting us. "Come on slow pokes. Just a little further. Why don't we up the stakes? The losers will have to face punishment."

"What the Styx? Who even are you?" I panted.

He laughed and ran ahead of us, literally leaving a dust trail. Another five minutes of running brought us to a rich, luscious patch of green. I recognized the mayapple from Tristan's book. The strange guy was waiting for us, pumping his fists in the air victory style. I clutched my side and knelt next to one of the plants, glaring at him.

"Not so fast," he said as I unzipped my bag. "I won the race. That means I get to choose your challenge."

"Excuse me?" I growled, shoving one of the flowers into my backpack. I felt several leaves snap in my fist. "We're not sticking around to…"

"I'm sorry," Amy interrupted. "We really have to be going. Thank you for your help uh…"

"Phaedippus," he said. I groaned at the obviously Greek name. It was a trap. Why hadn't I listened to that little voice telling me not to run after the weirdo?

"Oh, uh… Thank you Phaed…"

"Now on to the challenge!" He bellowed eagerly. "You get to sprint the entire valley thrice. It's a classic demigod trial."

"What?" Amy squeaked.

"Come on, get moving." Phaedippus made a wide sweeping gesture. Before I realized what was happening my legs were moving. It felt like a large hand was shoving me forward.

Ryan screamed. "Guys, I can't control my legs!" It seemed none of us could. I tried to stop running, but any effort I made to hold still only made the pressure behind me increase. I was not going to stay there and be forced to run. I ran forward into shadow, reappearing a mile south outside of the valley.

My feet kept moving. Ahead of me was a group of trees. I couldn't alter my course and quickly shadow-travelled back into the valley before I could crash into them. I was exhausted and my side was aching. The air began to taste thin and sharp. From what I could see, the other demigods weren't doing any better.

Amy's chin trembled. She took in a deep, shuddering breath. "STOP!" She screamed in a hoarse voice. My feet became rooted to the ground, sending me tumbling onto my knees. Ryan face-planted into the dirt a couple feet to my left.

"We won't go another inch." Amy glared up at Phaedippus who jogged in place.

He frowned. "But you haven't even made it halfway through lap one. Come on, get up." I was shoved to my feet by the invisible force.

"No," Amy snapped. I stumbled down again. Amy's face was red with rage and exertion. Her perfect curly hair was a disheveled mess and smeared mascara gave the impression that she had two black eyes. She stood on shaky legs and looked Phaedippus right in the eye, which was very impressive since he was at least a foot taller than her.

"Who are you to tell us what to do?"

Phaedippus gaped at her. "I'm… I'm Phaedippus. Haven't you heard of me?" When no one answered he frowned. "Son of Hermes, god of running… I ran across the Valley of Marathon three times to win that war! No one remembers me?" His chin quivered.

Amy forced a quick smile. Anyone who didn't know her would think it genuine, but I knew better. I've received enough of her fake, "I want to kill you, but there are witnesses here," smile to tell when she was using it.

"Oh, of course I know who you are. It's just… I mean, you're so legendary I never thought I would really get to meet you."

"Really?" Phaedippus' eyes lit up.

"Absolutely." Amy's voice was a warm blanket just out of the dryer. "You know, I heard that you've gotten so good you can run this valley… ten times over in one day. But I'm sure that's just a rumor. Even someone with your powers…"

"Of course I can! I am the god of running. No distance is too far for me."

Amy shook her head. "I just don't know. I mean, it's so far…"

"I'll run it seven times just to show you puny mortal." Phaedippus puffed out his chest and took off leaping across the valley.

Amy groaned and sat down hard. None of us moved for several minutes.

"We should probably go before the charmspeak wears off," Amy sighed. We grunted but got up. A torturous hike south took us away from the valley. We found a small farm with an old, white house. There were several fields of wheat and corn. A dusty barn, that was more of a shed, stood at the edge of a wheat field. We collapsed inside.

Ryan sat uncomfortably close to Amy, staring at her with even more adoration than before. She squirmed away from him. When he scooted closer she pulled out a mirror and began smudging her makeup around her face.

When Sadie saw Ryan's puppy dog expression, her eyes hardened. She yanked him up and dragged him out of the barn. "Let's go find something to eat," she growled.

They swept out of the barn, leaving Amy and I alone. Normally that would have irritated me, but after the whole situation with the god of running, I didn't have the motivation.

I began writing in this strangely addictive little journal while Amy made herself a fort of hay bales and a canvas tarp. When her project was completed she crawled inside and promptly fell asleep. A nap sounds so good right now. I thi _

 ****Thank you for reading! Updates Saturdays. Please follow and favorite the story. And please share your thoughts with me so I can continue to improve as a writer and make this story better. :)****


	24. Painful Memories

**February 26, 2015 Maybe**

Glass shattered. Screeching, crunching, and grinding tore the air. Confusion clouded my mind. I wasn't sure where I was. With a jolt I recognized the tan leather in front of me. Panic swept over me as I was pulled deeper into the memory.

The car shook back and forth violently. My leg twisted painfully and my arm flew across my chest, smacking with a dull thud against the broken window.

I hardly noticed when the spinning and shaking stopped. My vision swam. There was hissing and screaming in front of me. I looked around, trying to understand what had happened. I found mommy. She lay against the windshield, not moving. I tried to call out to her, tried to get her help. No sound escaped my tight chest. I whimpered, and cried silent sobs that sent waves of agony shuddering through me. When I looked down I saw blood. It terrified me even more. I choked and gasped for so long it seemed like a short time.

Strange men pulled open the car with giant scissors. They got me out and put me on a bed with wheels. They did the same with mommy. Then we were put in a really fast car. One of my arms was laid across my chest and I couldn't move it. I stretched toward mommy's hand with my good fingers, but I couldn't reach her. I got a sudden chill and then my hand went numb. A lady tucked a blanket around me and made little shushing noises. She was telling me something, but I didn't understand her. I didn't want her to comfort me. I wanted mommy. I wanted mom to tell me it would be okay.

Finally, we arrived at a big building that smelled really funny. Mommy and I were rushed inside. She was wheeled away from me and there was nothing I could do about it. Lots of people stood around me, trying to talk to me. I just cried harder for mommy, even though I knew she wouldn't come. Someone put something over my face, but it hurt too much to move away. I got really tingly and sleepy. As I was drifting off, mommy finally came and stroked my cheek.

. . .

My head was pounding and my limbs felt heavy. My cheeks were wet from tears. It's not my favorite way to wake up. My mind still spun from the memory, my memory. I choked back another sob, breathing deeply and trying to focus on my surroundings. I was slumped against warm black leather, the seat of a car. Pain squeezed inside my chest. But I wasn't in a car. All around me were various bits of metal and glass. I was in… a garage?

I tried to stand up, but discovered my feet were bound in thick, rough rope. So were my wrists. I kicked back and forth, trying to loosen the knots. The sound of metal pounding metal stopped so suddenly I hadn't realized it was there until it became silent.

Deep laughter rang out somewhere on the other side of a large scrap pile. "Dinner is awake."

**Thank you for reading! Please leave your thoughts in a comment and follow/favorite the story. And be sure to check out Monique's Journal and Tristan's Camp Journal for their points of view.**

**Sorry for the awkward upload schedule this week. The next chapter will be posted Saturday night. Regular uploads will be weekly on Saturday nights.**


	25. A Demigod Diet is Bad for Your Health

**February 26, 2015**

My head was pounding and my limbs felt heavy. My cheeks were wet from tears. It's not my favorite way to wake up. My mind still spun from the memory, my memory. I choked back another sob, breathing deeply and trying to focus on my surroundings. I was slumped against warm black leather, the seat of a car. Pain squeezed inside my chest. But I wasn't in a car. All around me were various bits of metal and glass. I was in… a garage?

I tried to stand up, but discovered my feet were bound in thick, rough rope. So were my wrists. I kicked back and forth, trying to loosen the knots. The sound of metal pounding metal stopped so suddenly I hadn't realized it was there until it became silent.

Deep laughter rang out somewhere on the other side of a large scrap pile. "Dinner is awake."

I groaned. Why is everything always trying to eat me? And other demigods too. We can't taste all that great.

Instinctively I reached for Akantha. My sword wasn't there. "Styx." I wished, not for the first time, that my sword could magically come to me like Percy's does. I redoubled my effort to untie the ropes. They were getting looser bit by agonizing bit.

The ground fell away beneath me as I was yanked into the air. The enormous hand clutching the back of my hoodie swung me around to meet the gaze of a single, wicked eye. The cyclops took a deep breath and sighed. Its breath was sour and salty like a daughter of Aphrodite with PMS. "Smells so good. Not time for dinner yet," he lamented. "Maybe just a little snack…" His other hand came up, grasping my right arm and tugging hard.

I screamed in pain as the joint popped, and kicked wildly. By some miracle my feet made contact with the ugly eye. The cyclops cried out, stumbling back and dropping me. I landed hard on my dislocated arm. Tears sprang to my eyes. Shadows were beginning to thicken around me as though they could sense my pain. I took a deep breath and rolled onto my back to sit up. A couple yards away was a shard of broken glass that looked promising. I bit my tongue hard, tasting blood, as I squirmed desperately toward it.

Just as I grasped the heavy bit of glass the cyclops' giant shadow fell over me. I turned to face him. His red eye gleamed murderously. I directed shadows at him in a massive, solid wall. He was forced back a couple feet. I dug the glass furiously into the cords at my feet while he struggled against the shadows. The ropes fell away just as the wall of shadow failed.

I scrambled behind a surprisingly nice car. Maybe I was in a mechanic shop? Or a chop shop? I slashed furiously at the bindings on my wrist, freeing my hands at last though I still couldn't do much with my limp arm. I scanned the room, looking for an exit. Two large garage doors stood closed to my left, looking very heavy and impossible to open. A regular door stood across the shop with the cyclops between me and it. I was too tired and distracted by the pain in my shoulder to even attempt shadow-travelling. I swore. My odds of escaping alive were looking worse by the second.

"Please," I whispered to whatever god might have been listening, "just let me get out of here alive." The car I was crouched behind flew up and was hurled across the room. I tried to stumble away, but the cyclops' massive foot slammed into my ribs, cracking something, and sending me skidding into the wall furthest from the door. Heat blasted me from above. A large metal box was emitting shrieks and bursts of fire from small holes in the side just over my head.

"Now is dinner time," the cyclops bellowed. My head swam and I could barely move. I always thought I'd die a more noble death. Or at least put up a better fight. I was feeling pretty pathetic as I tried to stand, without much progress.

The door on the other side of the shop slammed open with a metallic clang. I had to blink a couple times. Amy stood in the frame, a knife clutched in her white knuckles. After a moment of surprise the cyclops lunged at Amy. She ducked under his legs, dashing toward me. Ryan and Sadie burst into the garage right behind her, hands blazing with fire and storm. They began attacking the cyclops in a frenzy.

Amy slid to her knees at my side. She produced a ziploc bag from her pocket. Ambrosia. I grabbed a handful, shoving it into my mouth and gulping down the lump. Amy tried to hand me my sword, but I shook my head.

"I can't fight with my shoulder dislocated. You'll have to pop it back into the socket."

Her eyes widened. "But… I… Okay." She swallowed, moving to my other side. "1… 2... 3." Pain flared through my arm as she thrust the joint into place. I guess I should be grateful Camp Parthenon decided to teach new demigods the basics of dealing with combat injuries.

The battle raging before me didn't look good. Sadie and Ryan were being driven back toward us. They were fighting well, but they are also relatively new to the whole demigod thing. They wouldn't be able to hold off the cyclops much longer.

The pain was lessening as ambrosia flooded me with godly energy. But it wasn't enough. My shoulder was sore, but I could use it again. I had at least one broken rib, probably more, sending stabbing jolts of pain through my side. I snatched the bag of ambrosia, grasping another handful. Amy stopped me.

"You can't. You could…"

"I know," I interrupted. "But I have to." Amy stared into my eyes, biting her lip nervously. Her grip on the ambrosia relented. I threw the glob of glowing lemon bar into my mouth and stood with a surge of adrenaline. Searing heat coursed through my limbs. I felt like I was on the biggest sugar high of my life. But I didn't catch fire, which is always a plus.

I picked up Akantha and darted into the fray. I slashed at the cyclops' legs. He fell to his knees, crying out in pain. Sadie and Ryan charged in, but were batted aside with a sweep of his thick arm. I lunged at the cyclops' exposed side, getting in a good stab. He spun, wrenching the sword out of my hands. He yanked it out of his side, throwing it hard. Akantha stuck in the ceiling across the room, a good 5 feet above where it could be reached.

Dark curls whipped past me as Amy jumped onto the cyclops' back, thrusting her dagger into his shoulder. She jumped down just as quickly before he could grab her, slicing across his back. Another massive arm swept across the floor, sending us both sprawling toward the corner we'd just come from. He stood and began running unsteadily at us.

Fire exploded against his head, making him turn. Ryan was crouched near an unconscious Sadie, hurling fireballs. The cyclops just growled, changing directions and running toward the pair. Ryan backed away from Sadie, his eyes wide with fear, but determined.

I screamed.

The cyclops stumbled as the ground rocked beneath him. For a moment I was confused. I've never been able to manipulate the earth like my siblings can. The monster regained his footing and lurched forward. I slammed my palms against the ground and screamed again, forcing my will into the sound. The cement floor cracked and a chasm ran from me to the cyclops' feet. He scrabbled uselessly for a handhold as the crevice swallowed him.

Sudden calm crashed down, leaving us all panting and on edge. No one moved for several moments. Finally Amy and I skirted around the chasm to join Ryan and Sadie, who was awake but dazed.

A squawk broke the tense silence and another stream of fire burst from the metal box. Ryan frowned and ran to investigate the strange contraption. He pushed and pulled on it with no success.

"Ryan… we should leave," Amy began.

Ryan held up his hand to silence her. Slowly he reached his hand inside the largest of the holes. Bright tongues of flame whipped out around his arm and blasted through the other openings. Ryan winced as though the fire stung. A click sounded and Ryan removed his hand as the entire side of the box swung open. Inside, chained to a pole, was a small dragon with shiny scales the color Granny Smith apples. It belched fire, glowering at us.

Ryan stepped around so he was between us and the little beast. He held up his hands in a calming gesture and set them ablaze. The dragon's eyes narrowed to slits, then widened as he let out an excited sort of yip.

"That's right," Ryan said soothingly, reaching out to scratch its scaly head. I was surprised how gentle he was being. He slapped his nice little unlocking device down on the padlock, releasing the dragon and carefully pulling it out of the cage. It began to twitch nervously in the open air, opening and closing its wings.

"It's okay. You can fly now," Ryan promised. The dragon cocked its head, then shot into the air. It flew several fast laps around the garage and came to land sprawled across Ryan's shoulders with its tail curled around his neck. "Poor guy. That mean old cyclops had you all caged up so he could use your fire in his forge, huh?"

The dragon retrieved my sword from the ceiling, with some prompting from Ryan, and we left the shop. The little beast shot into the air, soaring high in elaborate spirals and dives. Ryan grinned at his new friend. "I'm going to name him Oswald."

The sun was just beginning to rise over a sparse scattering of buildings. As we drew closer I began to recognize where we were. A small town close to Long Island Sound.

Half-Blood Hill came into view after just over an hour of walking. I led our little group straight to the infirmary. My ambrosia high was wearing off quickly, and I passed out on a cot immediately.

. . .

Several hours later I was woken by someone shaking me. My brother's annoying, pale face stared down at me.

"Nico," I growled. "What are you doing?"

"You've been asleep too long. You need to get back to Camp Parthenon."

Everything came back to me in a rush. "Styx," I swore, jumping off the cot. "Cadence. But… how are we supposed to get back in time?"

"The others are waiting at the big house. We've got a trick that should get you there in time." I followed him to the big house where Chiron was talking to Sadie and Amy on the porch. Ryan was chasing Oswald and shooting fire into the sky in some bizarre form of tag. We've all been through so much it's easy to forget sometimes just how young a lot of the campers are. Ryan is only 12. Maybe 13.

"Ah, you're awake," Chiron said cheerfully as we approached. "You really should be more careful with ambrosia. Too much can have unexpected consequences."  
I rolled my eyes at him. As if I didn't already know that. "Yeah. How are we going to get back to Parthenon?" I asked him.

"Ah Claire. Right to the point. I see the new camp hasn't changed you much. At least not yet." There was a twinkle in his eye as though we were sharing a private joke. I didn't get it.

He cantered down the gravel path, veering toward the forest. "If you'll follow me, young heroes, Annabeth has been working on something I think you'll find interesting."

**Thank you for reading! Please leave your thoughts in a review and follow/favorite the story. And be sure to check out Monique's Journal and Tristan's Camp Journal for their points of view.**

**Updates to Claire's Camp Journal will now be Sunday morning instead of Saturday night.**


	26. The New Labyrinth

**February 26, 2015, Again**

Chiron led the five of us into the forest. Nico jogged up to his side. They began a hushed conversation that I couldn't overhear. Ryan was tromping loudly and screeching back at his dragon. I ached all over and I could feel my heartbeat thrumming in my skull. We continued walking for about 10 minutes as my irritation bubbled up to the edge of bursting.

I stomped up to Chiron's other side. "Where are you leading us? Is this supposed to get us back to Parthenon? I can just go back by myself if I shadow-travel in a couple jumps." A sudden wave of nausea rushed over me and for a moment I doubted my ability to stand upright, let alone shadow-travel. Nico shot me a look that was somewhere between condescending and concerned. I glared back at him.

Chiron's reply was all patience. "There is no need for you to push yourself any harder. We do indeed have a very quick way for you to get back to Camp Parthenon. Nico and Annabeth have been working together for a long time on this." We stopped in a small clearing centered around a familiar cluster of boulders.

"The old entrance to the labyrinth?"

"Precisely."

"But I thought the labyrinth collapsed after Daedalus died," Amy cut in.

"Indeed it did," Chiron mused. "Then of course Pasiphae began to bring parts of it back. As far as I know the maze still moves beneath the Earth, although it hardly has the same strength it did before."

"Annabeth and I have been working on creating a new labyrinth using Daedalus' notes..." Nico began to explain.

"But I thought Annabeth lost Daedalus' laptop in Tartarus."

I groaned in frustration. "Percy got it back for her a while ago."

About a week before their wedding, Percy decided to go down to the underworld to look for Daedalus' laptop; He thought the river Cocytus might have carried it from Tartarus into Hades. First he asked me to take him to the underworld. After I politely offered to send him the old-fashioned way, he asked Nico. They were gone for a whole day, which sent Annabeth into a frenzy. Romantic wedding gift, right?

"Yeah, so we have been using Daedalus' notes to build our own, smaller, less confusing version of the labyrinth," Nico continued. "It should connect the three demigod camps with a small walk and be perfectly safe. That's the idea anyway."

I snorted. "So we're your guinea pigs."

Nico grinned guiltily. "Yeah."

I whirled and stomped around the boulder pile. Spotting the narrow opening, I slipped into a dark tunnel. A minute later I heard Sadie, Amy, and Ryan come in behind me. Ryan began waving his hands frantically ahead of him while Amy and Sadie stood like statues.

"Claire?" Amy squeaked. "Are you here?"

They couldn't see in the pitch dark. I rolled my eyes and went back to grab them. We formed a chain and I set off leading them down the tunnel.

It's hard to describe what it's like being able to see in the dark, especially since I don't know what it is like to NOT see anything in the dark. I can see the difference when a place is light or dark, but it doesn't really change how things look. Whatever. It doesn't need to make sense. Nothing else does.

We made it back to camp, and the infirmary, in a bit of a daze. As soon as they were out of my backpack Tristan began mixing the ingredients like a madman. His hair was even messier than usual and he had dark bags under his eyes. Amy hovered near Cadence's bedside, trying to help but probably just getting in the way.

Ryan and Sadie began to walk back toward their cabins, but I noticed something was missing.

"Where's Oscar?" I asked.

"Oswald," Ryan corrected.

"He stayed at Camp Half-Blood," Sadie answered for Ryan, who looked like he was about to cry. "Peleus and Chiron are going to take care of him until he's a little older." She took Ryan's hand and squeezed it. "It was Ryan's idea."

And just like that the quest was over. It almost didn't seem real. But I wasn't about to complain. I passed out on the nearest cot.

. . .

I'm not sure how long I slept, but when I woke up it was well past sunset. My various cuts and bruises had been taken care of. I felt stiff, but much better. Styx I must have been tired to sleep through all of that. I sat up slowly. Tristan was sitting in a chair with his head resting at the foot of my bed while he slept.

He held a bandaid like he'd been in the middle of doing something with it when he passed out. Chuckling under my breath, I slipped it from between his fingers and tore it open, then stuck it on top of a small cut on my ankle. I slipped out of bed as quietly as possible and toward the infirmary door. I snuck one last glance toward Cadence.

She was still on her cot. Her breathing was slow and steady, her muscles relaxed. I breathed a sigh of relief and crept back to my cabin to write everything down. But now I'm tired again. I guess I'll sleep the last couple of hours before breakfast.

**Thank you for reading! Check out Monique's Journal and Tristan's Camp Journal for the other sides of the story.**

**I am so sorry for the delay in uploading. I was having computer problems, but I'm trying to get caught up on chapters as fast as I can.**


	27. Water Fight

**March 4, 2015**

I was walking to class when I saw something much more interesting happening and veered toward the river to check it out. Monique and Jason fell into the water with an enormous splash. They quickly stood up, giggling and throwing pathetic handfuls of water at each other. Monique looked… happy. Jason seemed a lot more relaxed too.

A pang of jealousy shot through me as I thought about my own older brother.

I was just wondering if I would be able to push water with my shadows when Percy showed up. I slipped into the shadow of a tree to watch as he crept up on the oblivious siblings. He grinned wickedly and summoned a huge wave to knock them over.

Jason jumped up and charged his old buddy. Percy somehow did a cannonball into the shallow river, completely soaking Monique. I couldn't help but laugh a little at her startled, dripping face.

"Hi. What are you doing?" someone whispered behind me. Instinctively, I spun around with a fist. "Woah!" Tristan yelped, jumping back to avoid my punch. "I've done the impossible! I scared the daughter of Hades!" he exclaimed with a stupid, teasing grin on his face.

"No," I objected. "You didn't scare me, that was instinct."

Tristan raised his eyebrows skeptically, with a smug grin on his face. "Come on, let's go join them." He grabbed my wrist and started pulling me toward the river.

"Wait. WHAT?!" I shouted once I realized what he'd said. It was too late. Tristan hopped into the frigid water and pulled me in with him. Before I could leave Tristan splashed me. I was soaked from the knees down. "You asked for it," I threatened playfully. I pushed on his shoulders with all the force I could muster. He stumbled back, but caught his balance. Then he suddenly slipped on a rock and fell completely under the water's surface, eyes wide. I laughed at him, until he tripped me and made me fall in too.

I stood up sputtering and completely drenched, and turned to face Tristan. I punched him in the shoulder. "Cheater." I accused. I couldn't come up with anything better to say.

"Me? A cheater?" he countered. "You're the one who shoved me in first. And where do you think I learned that trick? Do you remember tripping me in the woods? I remember that." He rubbed his ribs with a fake, exaggerated grimace that was sort of ruined by a smile.

"Whatever," I said, then splashed him. He splashed me back and we ended up in a sort of war.

Monique was giggling and acting like a dork, so I splashed her. She squealed and splashed me back. That's when I noticed Percy sneaking up on Tristan. Monique stifled a laugh, and I gave him a look that said 'payback.'

Tristan looked between us, confused for a minute. "What?" he asked. Then it clicked. He turned around just in time to get a face full of water. He spluttered and kicked awkwardly at the water's surface. It was so ridiculous I couldn't help laughing. Percy proceeded to blast more water at him. It really wasn't fair, but that didn't stop Tristan. He got up and charged at Percy through streams of water.

"What are you doing here?" Monique asked me. "I didn't think you were the type to spontaneously jump in a river." She gave me a wet, wicked grin.

"Tristan," I explained, rolling my eyes and nodding toward where he and Percy were wrestling in alternating headlocks.

Monique splashed me just a little, and I gave her a light push back. She stumbled right into Jason's arms. Then the siblings started attacking me together.

The commotion was interrupted by a high note that would have put Apollo's falsetto to shame. A tangle of flailing arms crashed into the middle of the river. Amy's head came up looking confused. Jayce stood on the shore laughing.

I looked at Monique, who looked at Jason. I'm not exactly sure what happened there, but Jason charged and tackled Jayce. Monique and I ran up to grab his arms. He sailed into the air, and bellyflopped gracefully. Not.

"Ow," he grunted. Amy went over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Aphrodite kids.

Percy got out of Tristan's headlock and broke the cycle with a few crazy waves that sent everyone stumbling. I tried using my shadows to block the water, but a little bit still got past my defenses. My powers don't work as well in water, and even less in the air, but they did protect me a little. Finally Percy stopped his tirade and everyone went back to splashing each other pathetically.

"Ow! Who did that?" Percy suddenly shouted. Then he flipped over in the water. The wave sucked a few other people under too. I fell on my knees, a particularly sharp rock cutting into my shin.

Monique got up, looked around, glared at a bush, then stomped off. She put her hands on her hips, obviously sassing someone. I looked around to see if anyone else had gone to hide in the bushes. Nope, just Monique, so who was she with?

The water started going crazy. Someone, I think Jayce, yelled at Percy to stop, but he seemed just as out of control as everyone else. He started shouting excuses. So who else could control water? Cadence. Yeah. I could hear her and Monique laughing behind the bushes.

I jerked my head at Tristan nodding angrily toward the bush. He was a little closer to the bank than I was, struggling to keep his balance. Maybe he could get there and stop Cadence's insanity. Tristan nodded at me and started wading to shore. I gave him a little push with my shadows, getting him out of the torrent.

Suddenly Jason started freaking out, and Monique came back. Her cheeks were bright red from laughing. The waves calmed down and I was able to get back to my feet. "What were you doing in the bushes?" I asked skeptically. I didn't really need to ask, but I did anyway. I stepped a bit closer to her, partially just to get into shallower water in case something crazy happened. Monique made a lame excuse that no one, except maybe Amy, believed.

Tristan popped up behind the bush, waving toward us and counting down with his fingers. 3… 2… "Run!" Monique shouted. The boys charged after Cadence, who promptly dove into the river. Amy screeched and was swept away in the current. Percy swam after her, so she'll probably be okay. Which may or may not be a good thing.

"What was that about?" I scolded Monique. "You're just going to abandon your friends in the crazy, churning river? That really wasn't fun." I grimaced at the pain in my shin. A brief glance told me it was bleeding and my jeans had been torn.

"Sorry, I guess I just got 'carried away'. Pun intended." she said, smirking.

I gritted my teeth and held back a snappy response. Frank would have been proud.

Cadence ran toward Monique and I with a guilty, frantic grin on her face. I glared and almost didn't let her pass, but Monique tugged me out of the way. Whatever. I'll get my revenge later. Probably during capture the flag.

**Thank you for reading! Please favorite/follow the story. And check out Monique's Journal and Tristan's Camp Journal for more sides to the story.**


	28. A New Camper

**March 5, 2015**

After combat class this morning I had to go the infirmary again. The Apollo kids are going to start thinking I live there.

While Tristan was putting a couple neat little stitches into my shoulder I was looking around the room to distract myself. Over the years I've gotten pretty good at ignoring pain, but it's a lot harder when you have nothing to do. My eyes fell on the little black vial of venom left over from when Cadence was dying.

"Hey Tristan," I started. He raised his eyebrows at me. "I was just wondering, do you have… something… poisonous? Maybe… hemlock?" It was the first poison that came to mind.

His brows furrowed. "Hemlock?"

"Yeah… or cyanide or… I don't know. Nevermind."  
"Why do you ask?"

I almost didn't answer, but he looked so worried I started to feel bad. "I just don't know a lot about my immunity to poison. I don't know how much I can tolerate, or if there are any poisons that I can't."

He cut the thread on my shoulder and wrapped a neat little bandage over the gash before answering. "I know I won't be able to talk you out of sampling deadly poisons, so I'm not going to try. But you should do the tests here where I might be able to help you. While I'm thinking of it…"

It's so weird the tangents Tristan pulls out of nowhere.

"...We nearly ran out of O- blood when Cadence was here. Do you think you could spare a pint? And hey, considering your luck, we might just end up using it for you anyway."

I cringed. If he was trying to make a joke it was just… not.

"Yeah. I didn't want to go to math class anyway." I lay down on the mattress, with my left arm extended. Tristan furrowed his brow, probably not expecting me to donate blood right then. But I really didn't want to go to math. We're doing a unit entirely with roman numerals, and it's even more of a pain than normal. There is a reason that system didn't last.

There wasn't anyone else in the infirmary, so Tristan sat by me while my dark blood dripped into a little, enchanted bag. He mostly babbled about his anti-vision serum thing, and some duets he wants to play on the cello. Oh Lethe. Now that I think about it, I bet he was talking about that because he thought we could play together sometime.

Finally Tristan said I could leave the infirmary. There were about 20 minutes left of class, but I thought a nap sounded much more appealling. The minute I stepped outside something barrelled into me, almost knocking me over. "CLAIRE!" I was trapped in a tight hug. Sunny yellow hair blinded me, but I knew who it was.

"Angela. What…"

"Claire! Oh it's so good to see you! How are you?"

"Dying," I grunted.

"Oh! Right. Sorry," she said, pulling away and giving me some space. She brushed some of her fluffy blonde hair out of her face and tried to catch her breath. "I guess I got a little excited." Bluebells were blossoming at her feet. She looked down and saw them too. "Oh gee."

"Angela?" Tristan said appearing in the doorway.

"Tristan!" she gave him a big hug. More flowers started to sprout up. Daffodils, baby's breath, heather, and even a few poppies. Thanks to Angela I am unfortunately good at identifying flowers. Angela noticed and looked down in horror. Tristan laughed at her distress.

"I guess this is why they sent me here, right? Utah needs more color," she laughed uneasily.

"Do you mean you're here to stay?" I asked her. Angela is a summer camper at Camp Half-blood and goes to a private school during the rest of the year. She sometimes visits Camp Jupiter on weekends and school breaks. As the only child of Persephone, she has the undivided love and attention of the queen of the Underworld. And since her mortal dad is some rich guy, he gives her anything she wants instead of actual parenting. But somehow Angela didn't turn out totally spoiled. She's a little overwhelming sometimes, but most of the time she's not too bad.

"Yep!" She flashed me a brilliant smile and a wink. "I'm a real camper now. I left school early to come." I looked down at her heeled shoes and rolled my eyes.

The smile faded from her face. "Claire, I think mom is coming to visit soon."

"Oh. Really?" I sighed.

"Yeah... It's a little early, but I think mom and dad got in a fight, and so she's coming sooner this year. She sent me a letter a little while ago. She wants to come see me and sign my camp papers and everything." Angela looked really upset. She likes her mom, but knows that Persephone and I really don't get along.

"Maybe I'll just slip into town for a shopping trip. Don't worry about it. I'll be fine," I assured her.

Angela placed her hand firmly on her hip. "Excuse me! You can't go on a shopping trip without me," she mock scolded.

"Sheesh. No need to be so bossy. I'm just going to get… the basics." Tristan was still standing nearby. I wasn't about to admit I sneak caffeine and sugar into camp on a regular basis. Angela understood, having been in on it back in Camp Half-Blood.

She nodded somberly. "I get it. Girl probs."

Tristan's cheeks turned just slightly pink as he turned to go back to the infirmary. "It's nice to see you again Angela. I should, uh..." his excuse faded into a mumble as he disappeared..

Angela shot me a wicked grin. "Well, I want to see this place. Will you show me around?

I killed the flowers surrounding us with a glare. "Sure. But we should clean these up first." I ripped a handful of dead morning glories off her entangled suitcase.

Angela laughed, though not very enthusiastically. "You have no idea how good it is to see you again," she sighed.

After a quick clean up, I led her to the girls' dormitory. Because Persephone doesn't often have kids, there was no need for her to have a cabin, like a few other minor gods and goddesses. So we have a boys' dorm and a girls' dorm for the children of really minor deities.

She quickly threw her stuff on the bed, then grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the cabin again. "How has camp been?" she eagerly inquired.

I tried to tell her everything. I recounted meeting Tey, anger management classes, my fight with Nico, my new talent at the violin, the Valentine's dance, and finally the quest. The only thing I left were my visions with Tristan. It felt too weird and personal. I guess the whole camp knows we both saw Nathan's death, but I think everyone just assumed we both, separately had a vision about it.

Angela and I have been friends since my first summer at Camp Half-Blood. It was a hard summer, but she didn't give up on me. And we've been best friends ever since. She's always been a really good listener. I don't need to talk very often, but when I do Angela is the one who listens.

"So," I asked, "How have you been? How was school?"

She groaned. "I don't want to talk about school. I was there too long. And anyway, I'm not there anymore. I'm here now. I want to see the honey farms." She gave me an eager smile, and jogged off. I let her change the subject and continued the tour. Angela still smiled, but she didn't seem as energetic.

Just as we were coming back to the dorms we ran into Monique. I introduced her to Angela, but she just seemed annoyed. I was trying to figure out what was wrong, but Monique walked away rather briskly, her hair starting to rise with static.

**Thank you for reading. Please follow/favorite the story to receive future updates, and leave a comment below. If you want to read more, you can check out Monique's Journal and Tristan's Camp Journal.**


	29. Everything is a Mess

**March 10, 2015**

Monique is gone. She didn't even tell me she was leaving. I had to ask Jason where she was when I couldn't find her at dinner. Why didn't she say anything?

She's been so busy with extra classes. And I thought she would need space after Nathan. Cocytus! Would she have stayed at camp if I had been a better friend?

Doesn't she know how dangerous it will be for her to go back? Anything could happen.

Evelyn is off in England for some sort of vacation. Now Monique is gone. Tristan and Angela are holding hands under the table at lunch. I don't even know when that happened, but it makes my stomach twist to see them like that. I guess I should be happy for them? But it just feels… weird. I don't know. Everything is a mess.

I can't stay here anymore.


	30. The Evil Stepmother and Her Daughter

**March 14, 2015**

Camp was beginning to suffocate me. I just had to get away and clear my head. A few days ago, sometime around midnight, I left. It was easy to decide I didn't want to stay in Utah. With no particular destination, I set off Northwest.

A couple shadow jumps took me to a dense forest of pines lightly dusted in lingering snow. The rich, damp smell of wood and sap almost made me dizzy. A light fog was settled close to the ground, lulling everything into a gentle sleep. It was perfect. I found a large pine with branches hanging low to the ground and ducked underneath. The tree made a sort of natural shelter that would keep me reasonably dry. I unrolled my sleeping bag and settled into a deep sleep.

I stayed in the forest, thinking, sleeping, and fighting monsters for a few days before I felt ready to come back to camp. A few spirits wandering by stopped to talk for a bit. Several times I wished I had this journal with me so I could write down my thoughts, but I left it lying on my bed. It's kind of stupid how much I've grown attached to this thing.

When I finally arrived inside my cabin today, I was greeted by my evil step-mother. Persephone lounged gracefully atop Hades' altar, glaring at me with all the disgust of summer heat.

"You really should be more considerate of your guests, Claire." Persephone pursed her pomegranate red lips in disapproval, but continued. "My _husband,_ Lord Hades, asked me to remind you that he wants you to visit. Really I don't know why he insists. You'll be in the underworld soon enough. It isn't as though your life will be long."

With a final, disdainful sneer, she vanished. In her place bloomed a single, very large, ridiculously sparkly, pink lily. I growled in frustration and snatched a match from beneath the altar. The garish flower caught fire easily. I managed to say, with only a little sarcasm, "Father, your dear wife left this wonderful gift behind. I feel you are the only one worthy of such a beautiful present. Please accept my offering."

Lunch was a problem. I didn't feel like seeing anyone who would ask me questions, but I was also starving. In the end, hunger won and I got to the pavilion just a few minutes late. I tried to slip into a corner by myself, but Angela came out of nowhere and dragged me toward her regular table. "Are you okay?" she whispered before we were close enough to be overheard.

I shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know. I…" I couldn't think what to say. And then we were sitting down with a group of buzzing demigods and the moment passed. I tried to listen and even participate in conversations, but everything just blurred together. Tristan made a joke I didn't hear and everyone else at the table laughed.

My cheeks flushed in anger I couldn't explain. Tristan just thinks he's so cool with his witty humor and good looks and whatever. I glared at him until he noticed and looked back in confusion. Noise from all around the mess hall pressed in suddenly and I couldn't contain my frustration. Fear rippled across the pavillion, silencing everything.

I ducked my head. My own nerves had eased a bit, but they were quickly returning underneath the sharp looks of the other campers. The room began to empty. Nothing like a child of Hades to kill the mood I guess.

Several tense moments passed before I looked up again. Angela was the only other person still there. "You're not okay. First you ran away, and then this?" she waved a hand to indicate the empty pavillion.

I meant to take a careless bite of my sandwich, but it turned to cardboard in my mouth. "I told you, I'm fine." I wasn't though. I was feeling that reckless irritation that keeps getting me sent to Frank's classes. I wanted to hit something.

"Hey, calm down!" Angela chided. "You can't keep acting like this!"

"Acting like what? Me?" I sneered.

"No. Acting like your reputation!" Angela practically screamed. I was so surprised she'd lost her temper that I didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, exactly," she continued. "You have this ridiculous idea about who you're supposed to be. You're the daughter of Hades. You have shadowy, death powers. Big freaking deal. That doesn't make you creepy by nature. You can be scary, but you don't have to be. You assume that you have to be alone, that you have to scare everyone away so they can't hurt you." Angela's cheeks were flushed princess pink.

"Claire, I don't want to hurt you. I'm not going to leave you. You have so many friends, but you keep pushing us away." Angela wiped a tear before it could fall. "You know what else? Nico's not a bad guy. He's actually pretty cool. And he does care for you. You shouldn't throw that relationship away so quickly. You don't even know what you have."

Shadows began to curl around my clenched fists. I kept my mouth shut so I wouldn't say anything stupid. I couldn't believe that the one person I never thought Angela would say something like that. Tears were clouding my own vision, but I refused to let her see me cry. I started back to my cabin.

"Please don't be angry," she called after me. "I know you already are, but please don't stay angry with me. Holding grudges is bad for children of Hades, you know that."

I'm not going to class for the rest of the afternoon. After writing everything down I just feel hollow. And my head is pounding. What I need now is a nap.

. . .

Hot golden sunlight peeked through my black curtains, waking me up. I didn't move for a long time, preferring to be brain dead. Someone knocked on my bedroom door, interrupting my brooding. "Go away!" I groaned.

The door creaked open just a little and buttery curls fell through framing a delicate face. "Claire, I want to apologize." It was Angela. I rolled over. "Come on, I have Skittles." She shook the bag temptingly and sat on the foot of my bed. "I'm sorry. I really am. I shouldn't have gone on like that today. I was just worried about you. I miss you Claire. And I like you just the way you are. You can be as creepy as you want, just forgive me okay?"

I swallowed hard. "No. You're right. I don't fit in here, and it's easier not to try. You wouldn't understand."

"I understand better than you think," she muttered.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Angela sighed. "I... I've never really fit in at the girls' school I go to. Everyone there thinks I'm a dyslexic freak who talks to flowers, and they won't let me forget it. My dad doesn't care. He's too busy. It's just that… I've tried so hard to make friends with other demigods, people like me. But then I have to go back to school, back to…" she took a deep, shaky breath. "You're my best friend. I was just scared that I might lose you too. So please, you have to forgive me because I can't be alone again."

"Well, the Skittles help," I responded with a little smile. She laughed through tears and handed me the bag. I tore it open and popped a handful into my mouth, letting the tangy flavors blend together. We sat in silence until the skittles had all disappeared.

**Thank you for reading! Please follow and leave a comment. You can also read Monique's Journal for her side to the story.**

**Sorry for taking so long to post the new chapter. We've been working on a website/blog for Camp Parthenon. We'll have journals there as well as some cool art from Monique and other fun stuff. It should be up in the next couple weeks. More updates to come.**


	31. A Lover, Not a Fighter

**March 23, 2015**

I… think I made a friend today? But I don't like him.

Today I had one-on-one combat. It wasn't very eventful. Tey made faces at me, which she has been doing for a while now. Sore loser I guess. I won that fight fairly and I've suffered through far more anger management classes than she has. Anyway…

I ended up fighting some dweeb from the Demeter cabin. I think he is only in the class because Farming 101 didn't work out in his schedule or something. He seemed scared of his own sword, and very reluctant to use it. Loser. I beat him quickly and got to leave early.

After lunch my next class was battle strategy, which promised to be interesting. The desks were pushed back and arranged in two sort of crescent-shaped groups around the center of the room. In the middle was a large table with a complete, and very detailed map of camp covering every inch of it. On the whiteboard was a quickly scribbled message:

Sit where you'd like and start thinking, we will be moving around today.

I sat in the back corner on the right side of the room, as far away from the teacher's desk as possible. The other demigods sat down with their siblings in exclusive groups. The older Ares kids sat at the back of the room on the left side, opposite me, throwing paper airplanes and shoving each other around. The Athena kids Sat near the front of the room with their notebooks and pencils out. They talked quietly and tried to figure out what the lesson was going to be about. A few people filled in the other empty seats. One couple, that Aphrodite guy, Josh I think, and his girlfriend left when they saw Annabeth wasn't in the classroom. They probably went to make-out somewhere. Ew.

Finally Annabeth came back, carrying a lot of papers, and announced that we would be put in pairs to create a defense strategy for camp. People were allowed to pick their partners as long as they weren't from the same cabin. She began pointing at students in the opposite corner. One by one they announced who they would be with and Annabeth took note. I zoned out and waited to be placed with whatever loser would be last to pick.

"Claire," a smug voice said. I looked up to see who had chosen me as their partner, even though there were still other options. He was… manly? The guy looked to be about 17-18, and had a rugged 5 o'clock shadow. He had a solid build and probably could have been a stunt double for Tom Cruise. We hadn't met, but I did recognize him as a son of Ares. Neither of us smiled as we assessed each other.

When Annabeth was finished writing down pairs we moved to sit next to our new partners. I stayed where I was and let what's-his-i'm-so-cool-face come to me. "Hi, I'm Aaron." He grinned and reached out to shake my hand. I blinked at him in response. I mean, really. I wasn't trying to be rude, I just didn't think I could trust him.

"Come on, this will be fun. I'll bet we can come up with the best defense in the class." I decided he had picked me for his partner on a dare. He seemed cocky enough for that to make sense.

I took the small map Annabeth handed to us and spread it out on my desk. I began drawing sections in thick ink.

"What are you doing?" Aaron inquired.

I huffed in irritation. "I'm dividing camp by which parts are most important and need heavier defenses."

"Smart," he mused, rubbing his chin as if it made him look intelligent. Loser.

I drew a curved line between the cabins and the temple. "These are the most important buildings in camp," I explained.

"Okay. What if we had teams defending the camp entrances?" He suggested.

"Yeah… okay. But if we divided the cabins we'd have to..."

"You're really hot," Aaron interrupted.

I choked on my words and coughed. I looked at Annabeth, still gasping and out of breath, and waved my hand at her. She nodded at me as I left class. "What the Tartarus?!" I rasped once I'd gotten a drink from my water bottle and sat down by a tree. I was confused on so many levels, and angry.

"Aw, come on. I didn't mean to make you run away," Aaron said as he approached me. One of my shadows darted toward him, but he jumped it. "Don't act like that. I want to talk to you." He sat down in front of me, initiating some sort of staring contest. I refused to say anything, so he finally took that as permission to speak. "I wasn't trying to scare you. I just wanted to see your reaction. I'm guessing people don't tell you that very often." He was right of course, but it was still a rude thing to say. He waited for a response. I gave none. "Yeah… so… I'm really here to help you out. See, my little sis' Tey has it out for you. She's planning to challenge you to a duel. We have them regularly in my cabin. We have a special clearing for it." He grinned and winked at me.

"So?" I snapped. I can handle myself in a fight, especially with Tey.

"So, she's been training for it a lot. And I think she's rigged the fight."  
"Oh yeah?" I rolled my eyes. "How?"

"The rules state that you can use demigod powers in the arena, unlike in combat class. She's messed with the clearing, so there won't be shadows or dead people anywhere near the place. And I think she poisoned one of her blades. Nothing deadly, but enough to make you sick or put you to sleep for a while. One cut and you'll be out of the fight."

"Gee. I'm so scared," I stated sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help. You can listen to me or not, that's your choice. But just so you know, I'm rooting for you. I'm a lover, not a fighter." He winked at me again, then went back to class. I decided to ditch the rest of the period and play my violin instead. Tey obviously doesn't know much about my powers. Nico usually solidifies shadows that already exist, but I can create my own. She also couldn't know about my immunity to poisons if she thought a poisoned dagger would work. I guess it's not something a lot of people know about. Hades isn't really known for poison, so it's a weird ability for me to have. But I can also play the violin. So when have demigod powers ever made sense?

**Thank you for reading! Please follow and leave a comment. I would love to hear from you. You can also read Monique's Journal for her side to the story.**

**We're working on a website/blog for Camp Parthenon! We'll have journals there as well as some cool art from Monique and other fun stuff. It should be up in the next couple weeks. More updates to come.**


	32. The Duel

**April 1, 2015**

It finally happened, not that I was too anxious. I was leaving the pavilion after lunch and a couple of big Ares guys came up on either side of me. They jostled me toward the forest, a little rougher than necessary since I wasn't struggling.

When we got to the clearing it was exactly as Aaron had described. The boundaries for the fight were clearly marked and well away from any areas of shade. A couple other Ares kids sat off to the side with popcorn, including Aaron (who winked and gave me a thumbs-up).

Tey smirked at me from across the makeshift arena. "I challenge you to a duel. No rules or restrictions."

"I accept." I stepped into the boundary line and watched Tey do the same on her side of the ring. She was fighting with her twin hunting knives, just as she'd done before. It looked like she had another knife strapped to her thigh. That was probably the poisoned one. I waited for her to strike first, it didn't take long. She ran toward me and I spun out of the way barely in time, raising Akantha to meet her knives. She caught my sword between her daggers, pushing hard. I clenched my teeth together and ducked down and to the left as I pulled my sword out of the way. The effort she'd been putting on her knives forced her forward. I slashed Akantha down toward her unstable ankle. She fell on her stomach, rolled over and jumped up, wincing only a little.

I managed to get one of her knives caught on my sword and thrust it out of her grasp. She growled and drew the one strapped to her thigh. It gleamed unnaturally, definitely poisoned.

I didn't have time to think before she was slashing at me with increasing speed. Her strikes with the new knife were different, more erratic, swiping at anything she could reach. I was already getting tired, but Tey kept getting faster. She finally managed to snag my right shoulder, tearing the hoodie. A tingle crept down my arm through my wrist. Two of my fingers went numb. Tey's next blow sent Akantha skidded out of my grip.

I stumbled back, over exaggerating the poison's effects. "No rules, no restrictions." I echoed her words. she sneered, stalking slowly toward me confidently. Her knives lowered by a fraction.

I jumped at her. Tey's eyes widened in shock, but she was already on the ground with me kneeling over her. I twisted her right wrist in my left hand so she dropped one of her knives, gasping in pain. I smashed my fist into her face. Blood spurted from her nose. I thought it went well with her red hair. Tey whimpered, gurgling on her own blood as she tried to kick up at me. I kicked back into her shin, stopping the blow.

A growl grew low in Tey's throat, and erupted in a sonic force that sent me flying off her. I landed flat on my back, gasping for breath. Tey's silhouette appeared above me with her knife, but I managed to roll out of the way as she plunged it downward. Air filled my lungs in one great releasing breath. Akantha was right there. I snatched the stygian iron blade and stood a little dizzily. My fingers were still asleep, tingling with the pain of use.

Tey and I circled each other for a moment. Her heels were almost brushing the boundary. The air darkened around me and rushed toward Tey in a solid force that shoved her over the line. I ran, thrusting the tip of my sword firmly against her chest, but not drawing any more blood.

"I win," I panted darkly. As the rest of the world came back into focus I saw that Tey's siblings were glaring, stunned into silence. Only Aaron wore a smug grin as he continued eating his popcorn. "Don't cross me again," I warned Tey. I turned, stepping through shadow directly to the foot of my bed. I collapsed with a groan.

I had ten whole minutes of blessed sleep before a knock woke me up. Without waiting for permission, Tristan burst in carrying a first aid kit. He sat on the edge of my bed, reaching for my shoulder.

"What are you… Hey!" The sleeve of my jacket was glued to my shoulder with dark, sticky blood and pinched when Tristan tried to pull it away from the cut. His expression darkened in concentration and I suddenly didn't want to protest. He cut the sleeve away and poured nectar on the cut, cleaning away partially dried blood. I closed my eyes and hissed. Tristan shoved a chunk of ambrosia into my mouth and moved on to stitching.

When he was done he moved on to inspect my knuckles, which were still coated in Tey's blood, and the various other scrapes and cuts I hadn't noticed. The fierce look in his eyes kept me from speaking.

Finally Tristan seemed satisfied that I wasn't on the verge of death or whatever and packed up his neat little kit to go back to the infirmary. He stopped in the doorway, shoulders tight. He let out a deep breath, shook his head, and sat down on the edge of my bed again. He raised his burning blue gaze to study my face.

Several moments of tense silence stretched on as I worried he would yell at me or start crying. I wasn't sure which would be worse. Just as things were getting too awkward to stand Tristan spoke. "You lost a decent amount of blood. Make sure you drink a lot of water and rest." And then he left.

I fell back onto my pillow, feeling strangely guilty. How did Tristan even know I needed medical attention? Had he heard about the duel? Who would have told him? And why did he seem… actually I don't know. Angry, frustrated, scared? He isn't like that. Did something else happen? I don't know.

My head aches, so I think I'm done writing for now. I guess I'll have some water and go to sleep.


	33. Juvie

**April 16, 2015**

I can't wait to get out of this awful jumpsuit. One of the camp counselors will be here soon and then they'll let me change back into regular clothes. I'm just glad the cops let me have my journal back (I told them it was a project for my creative writing class). So at least now I can catch up on the last week.

It was a dark and stormy night. Just kidding. It was an obnoxiously warm afternoon because Utah weather just does whatever the Styx it wants. My arms were loaded with caffeinated soda and junk food, all the good stuff they don't allow into camp. I was trying to find a secluded place to shadow travel back to camp when of course my bad luck decided to intervene. A large, sleek black cat was prowling through the parking lot, its hypnotic green eyes focused on a young girl helping her mom put groceries away. She only looked 8 or 9, probably a demigod just beginning to attract monsters.

I dumped my groceries in a heap and drew Akantha. I wasn't near enough to stop the creature if it decided to pounce on the girl, but if I could get just a little closer maybe it would catch my scent instead. The cat crouched low, tail thrashing. I sprinted harder. The beast sat back up on its haunches, sniffing the air in confusion. Good. But I still had to lead it away from the girl. I began creeping back toward an old, empty building with a "for rent" sign. My movement seemed to trigger the beast's hunting instincts. It bounded toward me as I sprinted to the padlocked door. My sword sheared the lock in half, allowing me inside just ahead of the monster's claws. I slammed the door shut, but only bought a couple seconds before the creature tore the door from its hinges.

The cat pounced without hesitation. I ducked and thrust Akantha up toward the beast's belly. The cat twisted in the air with unnatural agility so it was only scratched. It jumped toward me again, belly lower to ground and out of reach. I threw myself to the side, tucking my arms in to roll back to my feet. I can be agile sometimes. The monster's talons dug into the wall, releasing sunlight through several gashes.

I heard an alarm go off somewhere in the building. Of course. Not a great security system. I'd broken the lock and got into the building long before it started ringing. The bell agitated the cat, distracting it for a couple seconds that I used to pierce its side. Akantha drew in the monster's dark essence, growing heavy for a moment.

Flashing red and blue lights pierced the dusky darkness of the empty building. I desperately ran for the back door. Locked. Before I could jump away I was shoved into a wall. A cop jerked my wrists into cold steel cuffs. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will…" bla bla bla.

So I ended up in a juvenile detention center for vandalism and assault. Or something like that. Helen flipped out. That girl and her mom were witnesses who claimed to have seen me attack a man in a black trench coat. Yeah. You're welcome. When they couldn't find any evidence of another person in the building they dropped that charge and just left me with vandalism.

Finally I'm allowed to leave. One of the camp counselors is coming to pick me up. I thought I would just be expelled from camp, but they're giving me a chance to explain things first. That will be fun.

I wrote something for the first couple days I was detained, so I guess I can tape that in here while I'm waiting.

. . .

 **Day 1**

My backpack, with my journal in it, was confiscated. But I don't have much else to do in here besides write. The guards did give me some paper and a dull pencil, so maybe I'll tape this into my journal later.

This cell is small, and worn-down. It's dark, not that I care very much. I'm wearing an orange jumper and everything. Really. Orange, and used. I can't wait to get out of this place. Maybe I could shadow-travel, but that would probably just make things worse.

A pale, sickly thin girl around my age greeted me when the guards dropped me off. Apparently my cellmate has manners under the choppy layers of dyed hair and cheap eyeliner stains. "Name's Shannon. But you can call me Shark."

"Mm… no."

Shannon sneered, sizing me up, and turned around on her bunk to face the wall again.

 **Day 2**

Today I went through prison girl initiation, or something. I got my serving of sloppy joe and sat at a table in the corner. The light bulb above it was burned out, giving me a little bit of darkness to hide in.

"Yo, chica!" One of the biggest, oldest girls was yelling at me. She sat down at my table followed by a gang of older girls. "You're new here. So what are you in for?"

She had this whole tough, prison act going on that was just ridiculous, complete with cornrowed hair. I smirked back at her, but didn't answer the question.

Her ears reddened in apparent anger, though she kept her voice level. "Hey, it's cool. You ain't gotta make no confession or nothin'. You either in here long enough we find out, or you gone so fast it don't matter." It sounded like a threat.

Another girl with long, silky blond hair thrust her hand out for me to shake, revealing some interesting tattoos. "I'm Jo." I didn't shake her hand. "This is Iggy," she indicated the ringleader of the clique. Her hand was still out. "Don't be scared, I won't bite."

"Who said you're the only one that bites?" I countered. The other girls murmured approval and that was that.

 **Day 3**

Shannon keeps trying to read my papers, which are hard to keep constantly hidden. So I probably won't write any more after this. I have something else to do though. This place has a small library and I found that book… Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

I'm only a third of the way through, and not sure how I feel about it. Everyone keeps talking about how rare a child of the big three is, and how Percy and Thalia are the only ones to show up in the last fifty years, and so Hades is the only one who kept the oath and whatever. Yeah, no. I was… seven? Just living a normal kid life while all of this was happening. And I guess Monique and Cadence were also out there somewhere.

It's kind of cringy too. I don't know if I'll actually finish this book. I might just give up and stare at the wall until they let me out.

 **April 16, 2015 (again)**

The camp counselor who came to pick me up looked like a movie star, probably of the porn variety, and I did not recognize him.

"Hi Claire," he grinned. "My name is Mark. I'm a son of Dionysus. I think you're friends with my daughter Amy?"

I just snorted and got in the car. Amy and I are okay, but I wouldn't say we're friends. Mark kept up a blinding smile throughout the car ride as he asked me questions.

"I knew it!" he exclaimed when I told him about all the junk food I had bought and didn't actually get to take back to camp.

"Knew what?"

"I knew the Hermes kids couldn't be very good smugglers on their own." He grinned at me like a maniac.

"And how do you know anything about smuggling?" I shot back. Yeah, I sneak junk food into camp and the Hermes kids sell it, but it's not some big smuggling operation or anything.

"Oh, uh… I was in prison for a while for… selling drugs… to kids," he murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. His million dollar smile stayed fixed in place like he didn't have an ounce of guilt. And they really let this guy just waltz in to be a camp counselor?

Anyway, Mark explained things to Annabeth for me, somehow leaving out the part about me trying to sneak candy into camp.

**Thank you for reading! Please follow and leave a comment. You can also check out Monique's Journal for another side to the story.**

**We have a website coming soon! I have been sick this week, so it should be live in the next couple days. If you have any questions, suggestions, or specific things you want to see on the website, please send me a message. More updates to come.**


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